At least 204 people were killed and 70 injured when militias attacked a cattle camp in southern Sudan, the United Nations said on Monday.
The UN said the attack, carried out by militiamen from the local Murle tribe, took place on May 1 near the town of Akobo in Eastern Upper Nile region, close to the border with Ethiopia.
It said many of the killed were women and children. During the raid, at least six thousand heads of cattle were stolen, said the UN report.
”Cattle raiding is a pretty common pastime in this area”, commented a UN spokesperson.
The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed it had evacuated several severely injured people from the cattle camp.
According to the UN the militiamen were dressed in new uniforms and carrying new weapons.
A spokesperson for the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), which controls the area, said the Murle militia is backed by the government in Khartoum.
”One possibility may be that the government is trying to make a move through the militias”, said the spokesperson.
SPLA and the Sudanese government are currently negotiating a peace deal for southern Sudan, where a civil war has been raging for over 20 years. – Sapa-DPA