UN helicopter evacuating 13 wounded three days after the attack on Duk Padiet. Most of the gunshot wounds were relatively minor, as the those with more serious wounds were already dead.
On Sept. 20 2009, the town was atacked by a tribal militia of Luo Nuer killing 82 Dinka civillians and government soldiers and wounding 52. This was one of the largest inter-tribal attacks to occur since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in 2005, and the Southern Government suspects that this violence was initiated by the Khartoum government to destabilize Southern Sudan and interfere with the upcoming 2010 elections, which will be followed by a referendum on independence in 2011. The attack on Duk Padiet, a small Dinka village, was a coordinated assault from all four sides simultaneously, using a type of automatic weapon ("G3" rifle) that is the weapon uncommon in the south and favored by Khartoum-supplied forces. The attack targeted men, women and children, and involved looting and burning the town of Duk Padiet and surrounding mud homes. In contrast to traditional cattle raids which have killed scores of people in the past, this raid involved no taking of cattle which are commonly stolen to pay bridal dowries. In Duk Padiet the thatch roof police station was burned to the ground, a WFP food warehouse was shot up, and the attackers even stole bibles and plastic chairs from the church. The government had known of the impending attack, but was unable to get Lou Nuer tribal elders to convince their youth to call off the attack. The town was quickly reinforced by government troops, who killed at least 85 attackers, and left their bodies to rot where they fell.
- Filename
- STNMTZ_20090923_13650.tif
- Copyright
- ©2009 George Steinmetz
- Image Size
- 5616x3744 / 60.2MB
- Contained in galleries
- South Sudan
