S.Sudan rebels slaughter 'hundreds' in ethnic massacres: UN

Rebel gunmen in South Sudan massacred "hundreds" of civilians because of their ethnicity when they captured a key oil town last week, the UN said Monday, one of the worst reported atrocities in the war-torn nation. Civilians including children were also massacred at a church, hospital and an abandoned UN World Food Programme (WFP)...

- Hate radio urged rape -

"They (the rebels) searched a number of places where hundreds of South Sudanese and foreign civilians had taken refuge, and killed hundreds of the civilians after determining their ethnicity or nationality," the UN said.

Some rebels took to the local radio to "broadcast hate messages declaring that certain ethnic groups should not stay in Bentiu, and even calling on men from one community to commit vengeful sexual violence against women from another community," the statement added.

Shortly after the town was captured rebel spokesman Lul Ruai Koang praised the "gallant forces" for completing "mopping and cleaning up operations in and around Bentiu".

At the Kali-Ballee mosque, where hundreds had taken shelter, the rebels "separated individuals of certain nationalities and ethnic groups and escorted them to safety, while the others were killed," the UN report said.

At the hospital, "several Nuer men, women and children were killed for hiding and declining to join other Nuers who had gone out to cheer" the rebels as they entered the town, the UN said.

Similar killings were reported at the Catholic church and WFP compound.

Peacekeepers later rescued over 500 civilians, many of them wounded, from the hospital and other sites, as well as guarding "thousands" of civilians as they continue to stream towards the UN base, where over 22,000 people are now crammed in for shelter in desperate conditions.

"Those in the camp have less than a litre of water per person per day, and that is simply not enough in the heat of South Sudan," Lanzer said.

- Ceasefire deal in tatters -

The capture of Bentiu came two days before gunmen stormed a UN compound in which at least 58 people were killed, with peacekeepers fighting back to protect over 5,000 civilians sheltering there who the attackers had wanted to kill.

The UN Security Council said that attack on Thursday may "constitute a war crime".

The surge in fighting in the four-month-long conflict comes amid warnings by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that more than one million people are at risk of famine in the war-torn country.

A ceasefire deal is in tatters, while peace talks in luxury hotels in Ethiopia have made little if any progress.

Bentiu is the first major settlement to have been retaken in a renewed offensive by Machar's forces, with the rebels saying on Monday that fighting continued in Unity state.

They could not be contacted for comment on the reports of massacres.

The conflict in South Sudan, which only won independence from Sudan in 2011 and is the world's youngest nation, has left thousands dead and forced around a million people to flee their homes.

The fighting has been marked by reports and allegations of atrocities by both sides, with ethnic massacres, child soldier recruitment and patients raped and murdered in hospitals by attacking forces.

The United States, the key backer of South Sudan's move to independence less than three years ago, has threatened targeted sanctions against those responsible for the violence.

• Unrest, Conflicts & War
• Politics & Government
• South Sudan
• UN World Food Programme

Source http://news.yahoo.com/sudan-rebels-slaughtered-hundreds-ethnic-massacres-un-115333412.html