A/HRC/40/CRP.1
children were watching; they didn’t understand and thought he was killing me and were
crying. […] After he left I took the children and sat under a tree and cried.” 1389
The SPLA forces broke into the hospital and looted the primary school. 1390 They also
looted residents’ food and possessions including goats, chickens, beds, and cooking
utensils.1391 One witness who fled the fighting told the Commission:
My own house was not burned down, however all my possessions had been looted by the
time I got back to Wadhalelo. These included my bicycle, six sacks of sorghum (50 kg), eight
sacks of groundnuts (100 kg), and my clothes and shoes. I had recently harvested the sorghum
and ground nuts and stored them in order to sell some and use the rest for food.1392
The houses of people suspected of being SPLA-IO members were burned down, after
being looted, and if the man of the house had fled, “[a]ny children or family members
remaining in the house were usually flogged.”1393 One mother-of-four described SPLA
soldiers conducting house-to-house searches and harassing civilians. After inquiring where
her husband was,
[t]hen they asked us to give them six goats. They actually went and rounded up nine goats
and thirty chickens.
They also took the few other possessions remaining in the house. After they had taken these
items, the soldiers started beating all of us, including my children and grandmother. They
were beating us with pieces of wood which we had used to prop up the mosquito nets for the
beds. I was beaten all over my body. In fact, I was beaten so severely that my arms were all
swollen and I had scars on my back and buttocks.1394
At least three local men were detained overnight in Wadhalelo and beaten by SPLA
soldiers and only released when village leaders attested to the SPLA Commander that they
were not “rebels”.1395 At least one other man was “arrested” and severely beaten by the SPLA
soldiers and eventually taken back to Grinthi SPLA barracks in Wau where he was detained
for approximately three months.1396 The SPLA continued to detain men in Wadhalelo and the
surrounding area into October 2018.1397
Despite not encountering resistance from the SPLA-IO, approximately 100 SPLA
troops remained in Wadhalelo by the end of June 2018.1398 Since gaining control of
Wadhalelo, the SPLA used the Wadhalelo primary school as its barracks. 1399 By way of
explanation of their use of the school as their barracks, the SPLA indicated that it had already
been non-functional when they arrived.1400
As a result of the mid-June fighting, a considerable proportion of the Wadhalelo
population was displaced in different directions. Although at least 700 of those displaced had
reportedly returned to Wadhalelo by the end of June 2018,1401 this represented a small
proportion of those displaced from Wadhalelo. One witness estimated that approximately
500 civilians had fled to Kubri Gedim1402 while another 760 arrivals from Wadhalelo were
1389
Witness 880, ERN 101567-101571, para. 10.
Witness 931, ERN 101799-101803, para. 7.
1391 Witness 915, ERN 101828-101835, para. 17; Witness 925, ERN 101886-101890, para. 11; Witness 913, ERN 101799-101803,
para. 11; Witness 880, ERN 101567-101571, para. 8; Witness 881, ERN 101582-101586, para. 12; Witness 882, ERN 101577101581, para. 8.
1392 Witness 915, ERN 101828-101835, para. 17.
1393 Witness 915, ERN 101828-101835, para. 16; Witness 880, ERN 101567-101571, para. 6.
1394 Witness 925, ERN 101886-101890, paras. 11, 12.
1395 Witness 931, ERN 101799-101803, paras. 8, 9.
1396 Witness 915, ERN 101828-101835, para. 21.
1397 Witness 915, ERN 101828-101835, para. 22.
1398 Confidential Document, ERN D113942-D113947.
1399 Confidential Document, ERN D113942-D113947; Confidential Document, ERN D113987-D113992; Witness 915, ERN
101828-101835, para. 22; Witness 913, ERN 101799-101803, para. 11; Witness 881, ERN 101582-101586, para. 10.
1400 Confidential Document, ERN D113966-D113974.
1401 CTSAMM, Report 2018/24 – Military Movement and Offensive Military Operations in the Wau Area, 26 July 2018; Confidential
Document, ERN D113942-D113947; Confidential Document, ERN D116022-D116118; Confidential Document, ERN D116253D116260.
1402 Witness 915, ERN 101828-101835, para. 15.
1390
170
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