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JUBA: A South Sudan opposition lawmaker on Sunday accused President Salva Kiir’s government of preparing a “genocide” of his rival Riek Machar’s Nuer community by classifying their homelands as “hostile.”
Months of clashes between Kiir’s forces and those loyal to the first vice president Machar, who was arrested in March, have stoked fears of a return to civil war in the world’s newest country.
Kiir’s allies have accused Machar’s forces of threatening that deal by fomenting unrest in Nasir County, Upper Nile State, in league with the so-called White Army, a loose band of ethnic Nuer armed youths in the region.
“The Nuer ethnic group, one of the largest in South Sudan, played a significant role in the liberation struggle,” read a government statement.
“The community spans 16 counties... out of these, nine are considered hostile,” meaning aligned with Machar’s party, the statement added.
Nasir County was among those considered hostile.
That designation was “reckless and malicious,” said Reath Muoch Tang, a deputy and top official in Machar’s party who is Nuer himself.
“This dangerous labelling... this sinister plan constitute(s) nothing short of a mapping for genocide against the Nuer community,” Tang said in a statement published on Facebook.
“It is a deliberate and calculated attempt to justify collective punishment, instigate violence, and destroy an entire society under the false cover of security measures.”
In a statement, Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, acting chairman of Machar’s party, cited a 2014 African Union report that found that “male Nuers were targeted, identified, killed on the spot or gathered in one place and killed” at roadblocks, checkpoints and house-to-house-searches.
“We warn and strongly condemn (this) perpetuation of State Policy and of ethnic and tribal profiling, targeting and cleansing,” said Pierino.
He said the party was taking steps toward filing charges of crimes against humanity and genocide, among others, at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Clashes around Nasir contributed to the unraveling of Kiir and Machar’s fragile 2018 power-sharing agreement, which had put an end to a civil war that killed around 400,000 people.
Some 6,000 White Army fighters are estimated to have stormed a military camp in Nasir in early March, with a top-ranking general among the victims.
The government said the attack killed 400 members of the armed forces, and has said it has since retaken the city, as well as Ulang, nearly a week ago, with the support of Ugandan forces.
Since March the violence has led to the deaths of at least 200 people across several South Sudan states and displaced around 125,000 more, according to the United Nations.
South Sudan has been plagued by instability since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011.
Between 2013 and 2018, the fighting pitted the supporters of Machar against those of Kiir, who is from the Dinka ethnic group.
The Dinka and Nuer communities are the two largest groups in ethnically diverse South Sudan.
The president has moved to sideline Machar, who was placed under house arrest.
On Saturday, the South Sudanese government also discussed a “plan of action” to restore the peace agreement.
It suggested that it could choose which of the divided opposition factions is legitimate, potentially paving the way for Machar’s ousting, according to South Sudanese media.
Pierino, Machar’s ally, warned that “any attempt to change the structure” of the transitional government, “or replace the appointments therein... shall be rejected and resisted by all means at our disposal.”