[JURIST] The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) [official website] reported [text, PDF] Friday that hundreds of civilians were targeted and massacred based on their ethnicity and political beliefs in two separate events last year that may amount to war crimes. In the capitals of Unity State and Jongelei, 353 civilians were murdered and another 250 wounded in attacks last April. These numbers were acquired through physical evidence and interviews of 142 sources. The UN believes that the crimes may amount to war crimes, as a hospital, mosque and UN base were targeted in the attacks. A UNMISS spokesperson stated [press release, PDF], “[t]his risks an even greater polarization of the country along ethnic lines with potentially serious repercussions for the state of human rights and the prospects for reconciliation.” The UN will continue to undertake further investigations in an effort to work with the South Sudanese government and bring the perpetrators to justice.

South Sudan [JURIST backgrounder], the world’s youngest nation, has been embroiled in a civil war since December 2013 after President Salva Kiir [BBC profile] accused his ex-vice-president, Riek Machar, of plotting to overthrow him. In August in a briefing before the UN Security Council, Assistant Secretary-General for UN Peacekeeping Operations Edmond Mulet [UN News Centre report] discussed the ongoing humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, describing it as a “man-made crisis” [JURIST report], putting South Sudan on the “brink of a humanitarian catastrophe and a protracted internal conflict.” In May UNMISS released a report indicating that both sides in the South Sudan conflict are committing gross human rights violations [JURIST report].