At least 19 people died over the weekend as a result of ongoing violent protests in Juba and other towns, as people reacted angrily to a gory video showing the killing of supposed South Sudanese nationals in Sudan.
The official police report in South Sudan said some of the victims were not deliberately targeted, but were hit by stray bullets as security forces worked to disperse looters in various markets.
In retaliation, 10 Sudanese nationals were killed in the towns of Wau and Aweil by angry protesters who claimed to have lost relatives in the alleged killings. The incident followed the recapture of Wad Madani city in Gezira by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) from their rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
In Wau, Western Bahr-el-Ghazal State in South Sudan, the Sudanese community held funeral prayers over the weekend for three victims of the reprisal attacks. The deceased were identified as Dr Abdulrahman Omer Mousa, Shams Al-Fallah, and Al-Bat’hani.
Meanwhile, more than 600 Sudanese nationals have reportedly sought refuge at the South Sudan’s national army headquarters, according to an army spokesperson Lul Raui.
The displaced began returning to their homes on Sunday evening as calm gradually returned to Juba and other parts of the country.
Despite the relative calm, South Sudanese rights activists are calling for a swift investigation into the incidents. In response to South Sudan’s appeals, Sudan has set up a committee to investigate the extrajudicial killings. The committee was launched under the leadership of Malik Agar, Vice President of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council.
However, South Sudanese officials, including Information Minister Michael Makuei, have called for the inclusion of senior government representatives from South Sudan, the African Union and the regional bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development to ensure transparency and fairness in the investigation.
Adding to tensions, an undated video surfaced online in which Sudanese army general Yasser Al-Atta claimed that 65 percent of the RSF members were South Sudanese nationals. The general did not provide any evidence to support his claim, sparking criticism and debate on social media.
South Sudanese officials and citizens have dismissed the allegations as divisive and unfounded, while analysts have described the statement as part of the propaganda war in Sudan’s ongoing conflict.
The RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo alias Hemedti, has been locked in a brutal power struggle with the Sudanese army since April 2023.
In a national address on Thursday, President Salva Kiir called for calm and urged the Sudanese authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.
South Sudan remains the second largest recipient of people fleeing Sudan’s conflict, with more than 810,000 arrivals since April 2023. This includes returning South Sudanese refugees who had sought refuge in Sudan, as well as refugees and asylum seekers from other countries.