March 21st 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – At least twelve people have been critically injured and five houses burnt down following a fight this morning between peacekeepers and displaced civilians at the UN protection of civilian site in Juba, sources have said.
The fight, one source told the Nyamilepedia, started when two Rwandan peacekeepers decided to beat a man during a distribution of food rations in the Juba POC at Jebel, a Juba suburb hosting South Sudan’s larges UN protection of civilian site.
The source said a group of youth decided to intervene to reinforce their brother and the two Rwandan peacekeepers started to flee. The source said the two appeared in few minutes in a company of more soldiers who later decided to randomly shot at people using the tear gas.
“This morning, two Rwandan peacekeepers decided to beat a displaced man during distribution of food [rations]. When other youth saw their brother beaten, they decided to reinforce their brother,” he said.
“After the two soldiers were overpowered, they ran away to get the tear gas and more colleagues. They then appeared in few minutes and used that [tear gas] against any one available at the scene of the fight even those who were not involved” the source added.
He said 12 people have been injured with five of them in very critical situation as of this afternoon. He further said that no death among those injured adding that five houses of innocent IDPs were burnt to ash by the peacekeepers in the process.
“Twelve people were victimized by that incident [and] five of them are in a critical condition plus an exact number of five houses were burnt,” he said.
The source further revealed that several peacekeepers were also injured during the incident according to what he said he was told but only confirmed in his presence that one soldier was injured during the brawl.
“I know one soldier was seriously injured by [the] IDPs. But I don’t know the exact number of soldiers’ causalities,” the source further said.
The UN mission in South Sudan could not be reached by the Nyamilepedia despite several attempts.
