Amnesty International released a new report on Thursday today, revealing horrific atrocities committed by Government and SPLM/A in opposition forces constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The report catalogues human rights abuses committed by the rival forces and their respective allies since the conflict erupted in mid-December 2013.
In some places Amnesty International researchers found skeletons and decomposing bodies being eaten by dogs.
The agency discovered dozens of mass graves including five in Bor containing 530 bodies.
Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Africa Michelle Kagari said civilians were massacred in places where they sought refuge even in hospital beds including cases of children and pregnant women being raped.
The report said forces on both sides showed total disregard for the most fundamental principles of international human rights and humanitarian law.
The Deputy Director for Africa pointed out that people on top and down the chain of command on both sides of the conflict responsible for perpetrating, ordering or assenting to the grave abuses constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity must be held accountable.
The report acknowledges that though the conflict was triggered by a political dispute, it took ethnic dimension with mainly Dinka members of government forces and allies versus Nuer army defectors and allies targeting each group.