A/HRC/40/CRP.1
it is happening in a more aggressive fashion now.1303 Efforts in this regard will need to be
ongoing, drawing on some of the principles set out in the IGAD Protocol on Transhumance,
which is under development, and the Agreement on Border Issues between Sudan and South
Sudan of 2012, which underlines that, to facilitate the peaceful cross-border movement of
cattle, the affected parties should consider “the primary interest of the host communities and
the security implications of such movements”. 1304
2.
Wau Triangle, Mid-June to November 2018
In the first half of 2018, the Wau area remained fairly stable. However, on 3 June
2018, the new 5 Division SPLA Commander, a Major General, arrived in Wau.1305 Within
two weeks of his arrival, and as the negotiations for the R-ARCSS gathered speed, fighting
again began in the Wau Triangle area, apparently as the Government sought to dislodge the
SPLA-IO from the area in advance of the Agreement to avoid having SPLA-IO cantonment
sites in the area.1306 From late September, increased SPLA movements were observed around
Wau town including an increase in armaments and equipment.1307
From mid-June 2018 onwards, fighting was ongoing in the Mboro, Baggari, and
Bisselia areas.1308 Over the next five months, there was sporadic fighting between the SPLA
and the SPLA-IO as the SPLA attacked SPLA-IO positions and the SPLA-IO undertook
ambushes of the SPLA.1309 In the course of this offensive, the SPLA engaged in a campaign
of sustained attacks against the civilian population in the Wau Triangle, attacking at least 10
towns and villages in the area even in instances where no SPLA-IO forces were present. The
pattern of attacks on the civilians in these villages is strikingly similar from one to the other.
One of the first attacks in the campaign occurred on 28 June 2018, when the SPLA
launched an attack on Mboro, in the early morning, before it was light out, shelling the
town.1310 Soldiers in SPLA uniforms as well as civilian clothes were supported by at least one
military vehicle as they searched houses and looted grain, and setting the tukuls on fire as
they went.1311 Satellite imagery analysis by UNOSAT established that approximately 200
structures were damaged or destroyed in Mboro between mid-May 2018 and the end of
August 2018.1312
The soldiers conducted extensive looting of the village. One witness described what
he found when he ventured back to Mboro from hiding in the bush to collect some food:
Those amongst us who managed to sneak back into Mboro saw that the SPLA soldiers had
looted the tukuls of all possessions and had even taken the iron sheets used as roofs for some
of the houses. The soldiers had also stolen the pumps that were used to pump water from the
boreholes in the town, so it was no longer possible to pump drinking water. 1313
1303
Confidential Meeting, Wau, 9 October 2018; CTSAMM, Report 003: Violations of the PCTSA in Western Bahr el Ghazal State
concerning Protection of Civilians, 22 March 2016, p. 4.
1304 Agreement Between The Republic of The Sudan and The Republic of South Sudan on Border Issues, Addis Ababa, 27 September
2012, Article 14 (2).
1305 Confidential Document, ERN D116022-D116118.
1306 Confidential Meeting, Wau, 18 October 2018.
1307 Confidential Meeting, Wau, 19 October 2018.
1308 Confidential Document, ERN D113942-D113947.
1309 Confidential Document, ERN D113948-D113957; Confidential Document, ERN D114804 - D114809; Confidential Document,
ERN D113975-D113981; Confidential Document, ERN D116022-D116118; Confidential Document, ERN D116119-D116154;
Confidential Document, ERN D115566-D115601; Confidential Document, ERN D116155-D116252; Confidential Document,
ERN D115602-D115748; Confidential Document, ERN D115566-D115601; Confidential Document, ERN D115329-D115464;
Confidential Document, ERN D115749-D115897; Confidential Document, ERN D115465-D115565; Confidential Document,
ERN D115465-D115565; Confidential Document, ERN D115329-D115464; Confidential Document, ERN D115898-D116021;
Confidential Meeting, Wau, 1 December 2018.
1310 Witness 914, ERN 101788-101793, para. 6. See also Confidential Document, ERN D116022-D116118; Confidential Document
ERN D116119-D116154.
1311 Witness 914, ERN 101788-101793, para. 7.
1312 UNOSAT, UNOSAT analysis of destruction in Western Bahr el Ghazal State and Unity State, South Sudan, 23 January 2019,
ERN D116708-D116714.
1313 Witness 914, ERN 101788-101793, para. 9.
164
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