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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned an attack that killed more than 160 people, mostly women and children, in southern Sudan. The killings were part of a growing conflict between rival tribes that has left more than 700 people dead. Ban called on the UN Mission there "to extend all possible assistance to those affected by this heinous act and work with local authorities to restore calm."

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/world/africa/04sudan.html?_r=1

 

"Most of those killed were women and children."

 

160 Killed in Sudan in Tribal Attack

 

By REUTERS

August 3, 2009

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) — More than 160 people were killed by heavily armed tribal fighters who raided a rival ethnic group in southern Sudan, officials said Monday.

Most of those killed were women and children. The violence, the latest in a series of bloody ethnic clashes, took place when men from the Murle ethnic group attacked a camp in the Akobo area of Jonglei State on Sunday morning, officials said.

The commissioner of Akobo, Goi Jooyul Yol, said in a statement that at least 100 women and children had been killed, as well as 50 men and 11 soldiers from the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

“There may still be bodies in the bush; we don’t yet know the full number,” Mr. Yol said in a telephone interview.

Officials said that most of the victims had been from the Lou Nuer group, which has been engaged in a tribal war with the Murle that has already claimed more than 700 lives this year.

Disputes, many set off by cattle rustling, have been exacerbated by a ready supply of arms left over from the two-decade civil war between north and south Sudan, along with political disaffection over the slow pace of development in the region.

Officials from the United Nations and southern Sudan had hoped that the beginning of the region’s rainy season would reduce violence, because heavy downpours restrict access to remote villages.

“This year there has not been enough rain to lessen the movements,” said the deputy governor of Jonglei State, Hussein May Nyuot.

Mr. Nyuot said the Lou Nuer who were attacked had set up camp beside the Geni River.





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