South Sudan is turning into an ethnic bloodbath

AFP

South Sudan is turning into an ethnic bloodbath
(Image credit: AFP)

Last week, hundreds of residents of Benitiu, the capital of oil-rich South Sudan state Unity, gathered in a mosque for safety as rebel troops took the town from government forces. Instead, United Nations peacekeepers say, thieves were waiting to rob the people of their money and cell phones, then gunmen entered and opened fire, indiscriminately slaying hundreds of civilians, including children and the elderly.

"Piles and piles" of bodies were left in the mosque, town hospital, and along the roadside, Toby Lanzer, the top U.N. aid official in South Sudan, tells The Associated Press. The hundreds of dead add to the thousands killed since December when the largely ethnic Nuer supporters of former Vice President Riek Machar started warring with the largely ethnic Dinka supporters of President Salva Kiir.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.