The United Nations Mission in South Sudan has revealed that nearly 900 people have been killed in the communal and conventional conflict in the country in only three months.
This is according to the latest UNMISS Human Rights Department released on Thursday.
The report presents an overview of trends in violence affecting civilians in the early and mid-months of 2020.
The UN report states that it had documented more than 400 incidents between April and June this year involving over 1,600 civilians. Some 500 people were also injured during that period.
According to UNMISS, the civilians were subjected to one of the four major forms of individual harm experienced throughout the conflict such as the killing, injury, abduction, and sexual violence.
It says by comparison, between January and March 2020, over 270 incidents were documented, involving over 1,700 civilians.
The UN stated that during that time, over 650 were killed, and over 450 were injured, and about 590 were abducted and 65 were subjected to sexual violence in different parts of the country.
According to the report, the proportion of those killed rose by about 35 percent, although the overall number of victims decreased in early 2020.
Among the three main categories of alleged perpetrators involved in conflict-related violence, community-based militias remained the primary actors.
The second category of perpetrators causing the most harm to civilians remained the conventional parties to the conflict.
UNMISS says government forces and organized armed groups were responsible for 11 percent of victims documented.
The UNMISS Human Rights Department says it has developed an incident-based tracking mechanism to document conflict-related violations and abuses.
According to the UN, sources of information include victims and eyewitness accounts, as well as reports from secondary sources identified during human rights department field missions.