World
According to a report by the international medical and humanitarian aid group Doctors Without Borders (M.S.F.), U.N. peacekeepers fled their posts in the city of Malakal in South Sudan during an attack that killed 40 people earlier this year. The report, which said that the number of casualties could have been limited, accused the U.N. mission of failing to block the flow of weapons in the camp before the assault.
M.S.F., which lost two members of its personnel during the attack, blamed “confusion with respect to command and control and lack of coordination” for the slow and ineffective response of the U.N. forces, writes ABC News.
The report also cited involvement of the local Sudan People's Liberation Army (S.P.L.A.) commanders and government-allied militia in the attack, which left about 20,000 people displaced after their homes were destroyed by men in South Sudanese army uniforms, notes Al Jazeera.
South Sudan descended into political turmoil in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused former deputy Riek Machar of attempting to topple his government. Tensions escalated further after Kiir's Dinka ethnic group attacked troops of Machar's Nuer ethnic group, resulting in a civil war which claimed thousands of lives. Despite a peace agreement signed between the two leaders two months ago, the country continues to experience violence in several regions.
