A/HRC/45/CRP.3 civilians – with both heavy and light weaponry.103 As in Wadhalelo, the offensive was also reportedly led by the SPLA 5th Division commander.104 While some of the attackers wore SPLA uniforms, others wore civilian clothes. 105 68. Pro-Government forces carried out a strikingly similar pattern of attack in Mboro as they had in Wadhalelo, whereby armed soldiers did not discriminate between SPLA-IO (RM) fighters and civilians, pillaged objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population including sacks of grain from civilian homes (tukuls),106 and then set the tukuls on fire.107 Satellite imagery analysis showed that at least 200 structures scattered across Mboro town were either damaged or destroyed during the offensive.108 Civilians including women and children recalled having to flee to the bush to hide.109 69. In a deliberate tactic designed to weaken the community, SPLA soldiers also stole pumps that were used by locals in Mboro town to pump water from boreholes, depriving them of access to water110 for both consumption and sanitation. The Commission received credible information that boreholes were targeted systematically, with the vast majority destroyed or dismantled by SPLA soldiers.111 Proximity to roads and the fact that the SPLA knew the locations of these boreholes meant that the local population was too afraid to approach any boreholes that may have still been left intact.112 70. Only days after taking over Mboro town, Government authorities declared peace in the area and announced that displaced civilians were returning to the town from Wau. In reality, however, civilian returnees – although they were originally from Mboro – had not been displaced by the recent fighting, but had been living in Wau for years, including some for decades. The authorities were staging the return of ethnic Dinkas into an area historically populated by the Fertit community. The Commission received credible information that many of these Dinka returnees were in fact relatives of Governmentaligned politicians and military forces.113 71. After displacing the local Fertit community and in order to prioritise the needs of the recent arrivals who were Government loyalists, Government authorities began exerting pressure on humanitarian organisations to assist the staged population movement and to provide new arrivals with food.114 Coupled with attacks against civilians and civilian objects in Mboro town, the ploy by the Government to relocate sympathetic populations to Mboro evinced a clear intent to displace and dispossess local Fertit communities and reengineer the ethnic demographics of the town. 72. The Commission notes with grave concern that attempts by the Government to coerce humanitarians into distributing food to certain populations and privileging them over others, including by prioritising the feeding of military members, were designed to create incentives for – and gain legitimacy in the eyes of – sympathetic populations. These actions were part of a broader, systematic strategy to prioritise the economic, social, and ERN 101788 – 101793, para. 6. South Sudan: Soldiers Attack Civilians in Western Region, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, 24 October 2018, available at https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/10/24/south-sudan-soldiers-attack-civilians-western-region. 105 ERN 101788 – 101793, para. 7. 106 Iron sheets used as roofs for some of the houses were also pillaged. See ERN 101788 – 101793, para. 7. 107 ERN 101788 – 101793, para. 7. 108 ERN D116708 – D116714. 109 ERN 101788 – 101793, para. 6. 110 ERN 101788 – 101793, para. 8. 111 Confidential document, D120831 – D120833. 112 Confidential document, D120831 – D120833. 113 Confidential document, D120831 – D120833. 114 Confidential document, D120831 – D120833. 103 104 19