Remains of a destroyed a town in South Sudan.

The UN Mission in South Sudan has condemned ‘targeted killings of foreign and South Sudanese civilians in Bentiu’.

Last week, the SPLA in Opposition forces captured Bentiu on 15 and 16 April and killed civilians based on their ethnic origins and nationality in the area, said UNMISS in a statement released today.

At Bentiu Hospital, on 15 April, several Nuer men, women and children were killed for hiding and declining to join other Nuers who had gone out to cheer the SPLA in Opposition forces as they entered the town, said the statement.

The UN Mission also revealed that individuals from other South Sudanese communities, as well as Darfuris, were specifically targeted and killed at the hospital.

UNMISS also strongly condemns the use of Radio Bentiu FM by some individuals associated with the opposition to broadcast hate speech.

It said while some SPLA in Opposition commanders did broadcast messages calling for unity and an end to tribalism, others broadcast hate messages declaring that certain ethnic groups should not stay in Bentiu and even calling on men from one community to commit vengeful sexual violence against women from another community.

“These atrocities must be fully investigated and the perpetrators and their commanders shall be held accountable, “said Raisedon Zenenga, Officer in Charge of UNMISS.

In the coming weeks, the Mission said it will publish a comprehensive report on the human rights violations committed since the beginning of the conflict on 15 December 2013.