SOUTH
SUDAN (FOLTYN)
INTRO: The country of South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan
in 2011, but two years later, this new nation of 11 million people became
embroiled in civil war. The conflict has led to a man-made famine, accusations
of mass rape and ethnic cleansing, and a massive refugee crisis.
Today, South Sudanese refugees are flooding into its closest neighbors -- Sudan
and Uganda -- also also the Central African Republic,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Kenya.
For tonight’s signature segment, NewsHour Weekend
Special Correspondent Simona Foltyn went to South
Sudan to report on the growing humanitarian crisis.
SIMONA FOLTYN: In Juba, the Capital of South Sudan, this United Nations
camp was supposed to be temporary. But after more than three years of a brutal
civil war, people continue to flock here for safety. Today, more than three
million people, almost a-third of South Sudan's population, have been forced
from their homes. Half of them have have fled to
neighboring countries, like Uganda.
SIMONA FOLTYN: The rest are internally displaced, like John Janoub. He arrived here with his wife and daughter last
year, when fighting spread to their hometown called Yei, in the southern part
of the country in a region called Equatoria.
JOHN JANOUB: When we heard the gunshots, people started running, people
are running anyhow. So me, I escaped, I went to the riverside. We were very
many in the river. Then, the bullet is passing from up. Even some of the
bullets were falling near us.
SIMONA FOLTYN: The civil war originated in a power struggle over the
country’s top post between South Sudan’s first president, Salva
Kiir, and his former first vice president Riek Machar. As both men mobilized support along ethnic
lines, the conflict pitted Kiir’s tribe, the Dinka,
against, Machar’s, the Nuer, turning it into a broader struggle over land and
resources, including oil.
SIMONA FOLTYN: The two leaders signed a peace deal in 2015, but it
collapsed nine months ago when fighting resumed in Juba. Machar fled and is now
living in exile in South Africa. When President Kiir’s
government troops reached Yei, Janoub thought his
family would be spared. Like most of his tribe they had remained neutral. But
to his horror, Janoub
saw government troops set fire to his home.
JOHN JANOUB: All my family were taken inside, they are seven people in the
family, my mother, the father, the sister, and my brothers, and the wife of my
brother was there. They close the door, then they started putting the fire. They
started burning the house. Then the soldiers, some of them they were deployed
at door, in case people inside someone will break the door will come out, they
will shoot.
SIMONA FOLTYN: Janoub says seven members of
his family and several neighbors died in the fire, and then the soldiers went
after him.
JOHN JANOUB: When I started running, then he was following me, then they
started shooting me - pah pah
pah. This is the place where I was shot. The bullet
came from here, they shoot me from here, then the bullet came out from here.
SIMONA FOLTYN: Janoub managed to escape with
the help of friends. For three weeks, they walked through the wilderness until
they reached this camp.
SIMONA FOLTYN: And the people who killed your family -- were they
soldiers?
JOHN JANOUB: They were soldiers.
SIMONA FOLTYN: They were wearing uniforms?
JOHN JANOUB: They were wearing the uniform, the government uniform.
SIMONA FOLTYN: Why would they do that?
JOHN JANOUB: They said that all people in Yei, these are the people who
are supporters of Riek Machar -- so all of them need
to be killed. These Equatorial people.
SIMONA FOLTYN: Most of the government soldiers are Dinka, which has
fueled perceptions of ethnic cleansing.
JOHN JANOUB: The government of Kiir is targeting all
the communities who are non-Dinkas.
They are grabbing people's land, when you talk, they will kill
you, they will destroy your home, the whole family. This is what they are doing
in the country. When I caught up with a spokesman for the government troops,
known as the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, or SPLA, he denied that abuses are
happening in a systematic way.
Santo Dominic: Well, there have been a lot of allegations that the SPLA
is attacking civilians, and that is ridiculous, in a sense, that how come that
a national army like the SPLA attacks civilians who have no arms, who have
nothing to do with rebellion. We are not angels. Within us there are some, you
know criminals, but these criminals don’t represent our image as the SPLA, but
there are very few elements that might have committed some crimes.
SIMONA FOLTYN: Despite the recent surge in violence, the government says
that it's committed to the peace deal, and it has been urging people to leave
this camp. But attacks on civilians have been a hallmark of this conflict, and
with ethnic strife on the rise, there's simply no confidence that it’s safe to
go outside.
SIMONA FOLTYN: The United Nations is warning the surge in violence and
ethnic targeting of civilians could spiral into a genocide. David Shearer leads
the UN peacekeeping mission here.
DAVID SHEARER: We certainly have seen communities that have had to
either flee from where they are living, houses burned, women raped, people
killed in large numbers.
SIMONA FOLTYN: Earlier this month, the UN Report of the Commission on
Human Rights in South Sudan found most of the atrocities have been committed by
government soldiers against civilians thought to be supporting rebel forces.
“Individuals have been targeted for killing,
arbitrary arrest and detention, sexual violence, sexual slavery, and forced
marriage.”
“Interviewees described seeing corpses with their hands tied behind their backs
and their mouths taped closed.”
“The vast majority” of mass rapes “were committed by police or soldiers” and “a
staggering” number of women “had been forced to watch someone else being
sexually violated.”
SIMONA FOLTYN: The UN’s 12,000 peacekeepers are supposed to prevent such
atrocities. But most of them protect the UN camps. And Shearer says government
troops often block access elsewhere.
DAVID SHEARER: The government doesn't want us to go into particular
areas because there are military operations going on and they believe we will
get in the way of their military objectives. It's not a systematic denial of us
going to opposition areas, it's more of us getting in the way and seeing what's
happening on the ground with regard to military operations that are ongoing.
SIMONA FOLTYN: Flying two hours north of Juba to rebel-held areas, I passed over
the town of Wau Shilluk,
which government forces attacked in February. It looks like parts of the town
were burned to the ground. I landed in the nearby town of Kodok
on the West bank of the Nile River. As the cultural and political capital of
the Shilluk tribe, this used to be a vibrant town.
But much of the population has fled.
SIMONA FOLTYN: Government forces are stationed just on the other side of
the river Nile, which is effectively the front line. Over the past weeks, there
has been intense fighting just an hour south of here, and many fear that the
town of Kodok could be hit next. The South Sudanese
government blames the rebels for provoking the fighting in this region. Rebel
commander Major General Peter Otar Laa sees the situation differently.
MAJOR GENERAL PETER OTAR LAA: It was the government army that came and
attacked our positions as well as the civilians at Wau
Shilluk.
SIMONA FOLTYN: Otar Laa
says rebel forces will continue fighting until opposition leader Riek Machar is allowed back into the country.
MAJOR GENERAL PETER OTAR LAA: The international community has the
ability to make peace either by force, through negotiations or any other means.
But if they just sit back like in July when Riek
Machar was pushed out, then we don't expect peace to come.
SIMONA FOLTYN: Tens of thousands of people fled the most recent fighting
in Wau Shilluk by walking
for days to escape the front lines. They carried whatever they could grab when
their villages came under attack. Most have taken refuge in this forest. This
woman collapsed. Her mother said she hadn't eaten for three days.
SIMONA FOLTYN: Everyone here is visibly exhausted, having slept for
weeks out in the open. Alisa Padaw is also coping
with the loss of her youngest son, killed when the government shelled Wau Shilluk last month. He was
only 12-years-old. She also has two teenage sons who are missing.
ALISA PADAW: When the shelling hit, the hot soil fell on me and burned
me here on my chest. Then immediately our house started burning.
SIMONA FOLTYN: Since leaving Wau Shilluk, Padaw and her family
have survived mostly by eating leaves. They left all their harvest behind when
they fled for their lives.
ALISA PADAW: We came with empty hands, we left all our things there.
When we go to sleep, we just pray to God that he will assist. When the day
comes, we look for the leaves and the fruits from the trees.
SIMONA FOLTYN: The UN says a-hundred-thousand people are at immediate
risk of starving to death due to a man-made famine...the civil war having
prevented farmers from planting and harvesting for three years. Aid from the
UN’s World Food Program has started trickling in. But the UN says the
government has prevented its delivery to civilians in rebel-controlled areas.
SIMONA FOLTYN: While they wait for aid, Padaw
and her fellow villagers find ways to keep going. During the attack, her
neighbor, Youssuf, ran and grabbed one thing he
thought necessary to survive.
YOUSSUF JOHN: I'm making this fishing net, so when the rainy seasons
comes, I can fish here. That way I can get something to eat for myself and even
these children here.
SIMONA FOLTYN: But it will be weeks until the rains come. In an attempt
to feed themselves, the displaced try to sell their other belongings. Even that
would earn them enough to buy only a few days worth
of food. The UN is now warning that five-and-half million people -- half the
population of South Sudan -- are at risk of severe food insecurity this year.
###
1 |
00:43. |
John
Janoub Displaced
Person |
2 |
3:27 |
Santo
Dominic SPLN
Deputy Spokesperson |
3 |
4:06.
6:22 |
Simona
Foltyn Special
Correspondent |
4 |
5:28 |
David
Shearer United
Nations Peacekeeping Mission |
5 |
7:05 |
Maj.
Gen. Peter Otar Laa Commander
of Rebel Forces |
6 |
8:04 |
Alisa
Padaw Displaced
Person |
7 |
9:11 |
Youssuf John Displaced
Person |