Amnesty Report: UN and South Sudan Officials Failed to Prevent Village Massacre Despite Warnings

United Nations peacekeepers and South Sudanese authorities failed to act on advance warnings before armed assailants attacked a village and killed over 200 people earlier this year, according to a new report by Amnesty International. The report, released on Thursday, states that the UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) was aware of the likelihood of an attack on a village in Abiemnom, a remote region near the Sudan border. However, UNMISS did not reinforce its approximately three dozen peacekeepers in the area until after the assault on March 1.

These findings emerge as South Sudan approaches elections next month, an event that many fear could destabilize the fragile peace. Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty’s director for East and Southern Africa, stated, “Both the government and UNMISS had sufficient information and time to take more effective preventive action. Their failure to take stronger action cost lives.”

Amnesty reported that between 1,000 and 1,500 armed men from the neighboring Mayom County were responsible for shooting residents, burning homes, and looting parts of the hospital. Authorities have placed the death toll at over 200, including 130 town residents, 76 security personnel, and seven foreign nationals. Satellite images revealed that more than 230 structures were burned, and the report indicates that most victims were interred in two mass graves.

The attack may have been precipitated by tensions stemming from earlier killings of several young men from Mayom County, Amnesty suggested.

UN Force Cuts

UNMISS spokesperson Priyanka Chowdhury commented that the mission did its utmost with limited resources to protect and provide medical care for approximately 2,500 individuals seeking refuge within a protected area established in anticipation of the attack. She noted that due to budget cuts, the mission had “concentrated its available capacity on immediate protection of civilians seeking refuge within our base.”

Chowdhury added that the mission had repeatedly requested the national army to dispatch additional forces following early warnings and was aware of heightened tensions since mid-February. UNMISS deployed 40 more police officers after the attack occurred. Amnesty questioned the delay in their deployment, particularly in light of a similar deadly attack in April 2025.

The UN Security Council (UNSC) renewed UNMISS’s mandate in April but reduced its authorized troop ceiling from 17,000 to 12,000. Protecting civilians remains a core responsibility of the mission.

Elections Due

South Sudan is scheduled to hold elections on December 22. On Tuesday, African Union envoy Jakaya Kikwete urged the UNSC to support efforts to ensure a peaceful vote. Murithi Mutiga of the International Crisis Group cautioned that a hastily organized election could prove to be “a final blow” to a 2018 peace agreement that concluded five years of brutal civil war.

South Sudanese authorities have not responded to two letters from Amnesty requesting information and replies to the report’s preliminary findings. The human rights group has called for an independent investigation into the killings and a separate review of the peacekeepers' response.

“Behind every statistic is a story of devastation, death and destruction,” Chagutah stated. “Abiemnom’s survivors deserve truth, justice and assurances that such a tragedy will never happen again.”