UN probes peacekeepers' response to South Sudan hotel attack

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has announced a special investigation into allegations that the UN mission peacekeepers in South Sudan (UNMISS) failed to respond properly to last month's attack on a hotel in Juba.

According to statement from UN Secretary-General received in Juba on Thursday, the UN chief was alarmed by the preliminary findings of a fact-finding investigation into the attack on Hotel Terrain on July 11 in which one person was killed and several civilians were raped and brutally beaten.

Ban was also concerned about allegations that UNMISS did not respond appropriately to prevent this and other grave cases of sexual violence committed in Juba, according to the statement.

The statement said that the Secretary-General has decided to launch an independent special investigation "due to the gravity of these incidents, related allegations and the preliminary findings by UNMISS," to determine the circumstances surrounding these incidents and to evaluate the Mission's overall response.

The UN chief reiterated his outrage over the acts of violence committed by the government and opposition forces in Juba from July 8 to 11, during which many South Sudanese civilians and two UN peacekeepers were killed.

He urged the South Sudanese government to investigate human rights abuses and prosecute those involved. Nobody in South Sudan has been publicly trialed for any war crime or atrocity since the start of the civil war in mid-December 2013.

"The Secretary-General urges, once more, the Government of South Sudan to investigate these human right violations and to prosecute those involved in these unspeakable acts of violence," the statement said. Endit