South Sudan: gunmen kill 15 as UN reports 35% rise in people affected by violence

Unidentified assailants have reportedly shot dead 15 individuals in South Sudan’s Pibor region, including its commissioner, just as a new UN report found that the number of people affected by violence in the country surged by 35% in the last three months of 2023 due to ongoing inter-communal conflict.
“The commissioner and his team visited Nyat village, and upon their return, they were ambushed, resulting in the deaths of 15 individuals, including the commissioner,” a senior official stated on Wednesday (20 March). This incident marks an escalation of violence within South Sudan that has been battling with internal conflicts since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011. Civil war, which was fought primarily along ethnic lines between Dinkas and Nuers, caused widespread casualties between 2013 and 2018. Despite the 2018 peace deal, clashes among various armed groups have continued to wreak havoc on the whole communities, leading to civilian casualties and displacement.
The latest deadly incident comes as a new report released by the United Nations warns that civilians are bearing the brunt of a surge in inter-communal conflict in parts of South Sudan. The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) documented 233 incidents of violence affecting 862 people. According to the new report, 406 people were killed, 293 were injured, 100 were abducted and 63 were subjected to conflict-related sexual violence. It also said that inter-communal violence by community-based militias or civil defense groups accounted for 86% of all civilians affected.