The UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan failed to protect hundreds of civilians from death or rape because of a risk-averse culture and chaotic leadership, according to an independent report.



In Maj Gen Patrick Cammaert’s damning assessment, Unmiss – the UN mission in South Sudan – did not respond effectively to three days of intense fighting in Juba in July that contributed to the collapse of a fragile ceasefire between the president, Salva Kiir, and his former deputy Riek Machar.

Cammaert, a former military adviser to the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, cites an overall lack of leadership, preparedness and integration within Unmiss, judging the command and control arrangements inadequate and citing a risk-averse culture among UN peacekeepers.

His report concludes that the standoff between Kiir and Machar “brought unrestrained violence to the capital of the world’s youngest nation and the participating fighters left a trail of destruction and suffering in their wake”.

A total of 73 people were killed in the violence, including 20 people who were under UN protection, the report says. Two UN peacekeepers were also killed and several more injured.

During an attack by government troops on a refugee camp just one kilometre from the Juba headquarters of Unmiss, “civilians were subjected to and witnessed gross human rights violations, including murder, intimidation, sexual violence and acts amounting to torture perpetrated by armed government soldiers”, the report says.

“Multiple requests were made to to stand up a quick reaction force to respond but each UN mission contingent turned down the request, indicating their troops were fully committed,” Cammaert writes.

The report also finds that Unmiss peacekeepers “did not operate under a unified command, resulting in multiple and sometimes conflicting orders to the four troop contingents from China, Ethiopia, Nepal and India, and ultimately underusing the more than 1,800 infantry troops at [headquarters]”.

At the height of the crisis in Juba, indiscriminate attacks on displaced people were carried out inside UN camps, and in other densely populated areas of the capital. Most of the crimes are believed to have been committed by government soldiers from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

The report finds that Unmiss troops did not sufficiently protect female humanitarian workers who were raped by government troops, nor did this violence prompt any response from UN troops.

More than two months after the crisis, the report says, Unmiss still does not conduct regular foot patrols, standing patrols or patrols outside its perimeter at night. “When the mission does conduct patrols, its soldiers peer out from the tiny windows of armoured personnel carriers, an approach ill-suited to detecting perpetrators of sexual violence and engaging with communities to provide a sense of security.”

Ban said he was alarmed by the report and outraged by the killings, but added that Unmiss had helped save several hundred thousand lives during its three-year mission.