04/04/2025
Rt. Hon. Mary Ayen’s Statement of Condemnation of the Heinous Massacre in Abiemnhom
1. Background to the Abiemnim Massacre
As of this morning of Friday, the 4th of April 2025, the death toll from the horrendous massacre of innocent civilians in Abiemnhom and Awarpiny Counties, Ruweng Administrative Area (RAA), on April 1 and 2, 2025, is reported to have reached forty two (42) people, including women and children. More dead bodies are being pulled from the river.
This barbaric killing by the Naath Defense Forces (NDF), comprising the White Army and Terchuong militia of Unity State, is a heinous and unconscionable conduct deserving of the strongest condemnation by all morally upright people.
This massacre should, however, be understood for what it is: a premeditated ethnic cleansing strategy, practically aimed at exterminating the people of RAA. This hideous conduct is, however, part of the larger machination by higher authorities who arm the militias and incite them against their intended targets. This is the umpteenth time that such a massacre has taken place in RAA. Yet the international and national response has often remained mute as Ruweng bleeds in solitude!
Ironically, this contemptible behavior is taking place, right in the watch of the High-Level Delegation of the African Union’s Panel of the Wise who have recently descended on our capital, Juba, in an effort to shore up support for the implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCISS); to quell political tensions in the country due to recent Nasir incidents and to prevent the country from sliding back to civil war..
It is, however, imperative to draw the attention of the Wise Panelists to the ongoing ethnic cleansing in RAA by the combined forces of the NDF and the SPLA-IO with situs in Mayom County of Unity State.
As of the evening of April 3, 2025, more than forty (40) people have been killed and several hundred wounded. Consequently, thousands of civilians have been displaced from Abiemnom and Awarpiny Counties to the neighboring friendly communities of Warrap State, and Abyei Administrative Area.
The latest mass killing of innocent civilians in RAA is not the first of its kind.
1. On February 12 and 13, 2022, a barbaric attack organized by a militia loyal to one South Sudanese vice president involved a vicious massacre of more than 100 people in Nyiel and Yar villages of Tuoch County, RAA
2. On June 30, 2022, seven (7) members of the Ruweng Peace Delegation led by the RAA’s Commissioner of Peace and Reconciliation were sprayed with bullets by SPLA-IO forces. They were lured to the scene and massacred in cold blood in Wunkur County of RAA. Several others were wounded. Among the dead were the RAA’s Deputy Commissioner of Peace and Reconciliation. The Peace Commissioner himself was severely wounded, although he survived. The SPLM/A-IO admitted the responsibility, but it never held perpetrators accountable. The Wunkur Massacre was coordinated by the SPLM/IO Commissioner of Fangak County in Jonglei State; Hon. Biel Boutrous Biel, and SSOA Commissioner of Panyikang County in Upper Nile State. Three (3) vehicles belonging to the Government of RAA which were used for transporting the RAA’s Peace Delegation members to Wunkur were also commandeered by the SPLA-IO forces. The vehicles have never since been recovered as they are still being used by the perpetrators. Efforts to encourage the SPLM-IO leadership to facilitate the return of those vehicles and to hold the perpetrators accountable have fallen in deaf ears. The SPLM/A-IO leadership has never been bothered by the spirit of peace agreement to cooperate nor encourage criminal accountability on the part of their marauding forces.
3. Last June, 2024, the SPLM-IO Commissioner of Rubkona County, Mr. James Kasara Clement Juol, and the Deputy Governor of Unity State, Mr. Tor Tungwar, coordinated the assassination of 13 Ruweng police officers and civilian authorities of Panakwac Payam of Aliiny County, RAA. The ensuing violence killed an additional 24 people, including the Executive Director of Panakwac Payam, late Nyok Mijok, and several officers and soldiers of National Security. The perpetrators did this with the full knowledge and participation of some government officials-sons and daughters hailing from Unity State-both in the national and state governments. In short, the June 2024 massacre in RAA was orchestrated in Juba not only by some SPLM-IO operatives but also by some leaders from Unity State who masquerade as members of the SPLM.
These are just a few examples of the litany of mass killings that have been taking place in RAA, right in the watch of our own Government and the international community. Put together, this series of massacres constitutes a slow-motion ethnic cleansing against the people of RAA. It is alarming that all these heinous atrocities are carried out by government officials, with the knowledge or even the encouragement of their principals. Yet neither the Government nor the “peace monitors” have ever sought to conduct any investigation into these serious human rights violations in RAA.
More unconscionably, the government officials who aid and abet these crimes are still roaming at large, still discharging their duties as if nothing happened. Impunity has become the new normal in South Sudan.
2. Petition
Against this backdrop, I call upon:
a) the Government, Peace Monitors, UNMISS and the international community to declare what is happening in RAA as ethnic cleansing, if not genocide.
b) the Government and the humanitarian agencies to provide protection and humanitarian support respectively to the displaced people of Abiemnom and Awarpiny counties in RAA.
c) The national army to consider the deployment of special forces from Infantry Division Three or create an independent Brigade for Abiemnom, and finally,
d) The Government should investigate all these crimes and bring those involved to justice.
May all the souls of the victims of the Abiemnom Massacre RIEP.
Mary Ayen Mijok Kiir
Juba
April,4,2025
