Week in Review - April 25, 2014 Share This /

Ethnic targeting and civilian massacres in South Sudan shocked the international community and revived the debate around United Nations sanctions. The United States is sending twenty Marines to Nigeria to train their counterpart. Read about these and other security news across the continent this week.

Crimes against humanity in South Sudan

• The war in South Sudan reached alarming levels this week, when South Sudanese rebels massacred civilians seeking shelter in a mosque, a church, a hospital and a World Food Program compound— all close to a United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) base. UNMISS was able to rescue over 500 civilians, and the mission currently shelters over 12,000 civilians. To date there is no official body count, but photographic evidence shows piles of dead bodies.  The ethnic violence throughout South Sudan, the proximity of the attack to the UN base, and the wide use of hate speech on the radio to incite this and other attacks unnervingly echo the Rwandan genocide. 

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The White House said the United States was “horrified” by the massacre, stating, “these acts of violence are an abomination.” Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called this incidence a “criminal act” and called on the Security Council to “take action against those who continue to undermine peace efforts and swiftly create a sanctions regime targeting spoilers of the peace process and those responsible for atrocities.” France and Nigeria immediately voiced their support for swift sanctions. South Sudanese rebels deny the massacres.

• On the political front, South Sudan president removed General James Hoth Mai from his role of as the Chief of the South Sudanese forces and released four senior opposition politicians accused of planning a coup. These accusations sparked the current conflict in December 2013, and the release of the political prisoners was a key demand of rebels in the peace negotiations.

Security news across Africa

• The U.S. is sending 20 Marines to Nigeria this month to “train and advise the Nigerian Army in its upcoming mission.”
• The U.S. announced a Special Representative for the Central African Republic, and appointed Ambassador W. Stuart Symington to the post. Ambassador Symington is charged with “shaping and coordinating U.S. strategy toward the CAR to end the violence, address humanitarian needs, and establish legitimate governance.”
• The conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) continues, as Christian militias battle with French peacekeepers. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Muslim internal refugees gathering in Northern CAR after fleeing sectarian attacks in the South are calling for partition as a strategy for protection, a move resisted by the international community.
• Some 190 Nigerian schoolgirls remain missing after a terrorist organization, likely a faction of Boko Haram, staged a successful abduction of 230 schoolgirls, some of whom managed to escape. The Nigerian government held an emergency meeting to discuss the growing insecurity in Nigeria’s north, and promised to do all in its power to rescue the missing girls.
• The second highest U.S. court upheld most of the U.S. conflict minerals law, which requires companies to “ascertain and publicly disclose whether proceeds from minerals used to manufacture their products may be funding conflict in central Africa.”
• After several attacks on the United Nations Mission in Somalia, the UN’s top envoy warned that continued violence might require the UN to leave the capital Mogadishu, which would be a significant setback for international attempts to stabilize the country.
• Al Jazeera investigative reporters uncovered prevalence of rape and abuse of Somali refugees, who were rounded up by Nigerian forces in an indiscriminate “counterterrorism” sweep that has been ongoing for the past three weeks.
• A car bomb exploded outside a police station in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, killing four people. No one has taken responsibility to date. 
• The Wall Street Journal published an essay examining the U.S. relationship with Rwanda. The author makes the case that the United States ignored human rights abuses by the Rwandan regime in part because of “U.S. guilt” over standing by during the genocide.
• Burundi ordered a UN official to leave after the United Nations published a report that alleges the Burundian government was arming the youth league of the ruling party. Furthermore, Central Africa analysts are concerned that Burundi is at risk for election violence.
• Uganda’s military captured a Lord’s Resistance Army commander, freeing ten people held captive in the process.
• Mali indicted former military coup leader, General Amadou Sanogo, on a charge of conspiracy to murder after the discovery of mass graves.
• The Guardian published a piece on narcotrafficking on the continent, which sees Cocaine from Colombia reaching Mozambique.