Deadly attack on UN base in South Sudan ‘cowardly’: Baird

WATCH ABOVE: South Sudan government officials on Friday condemned the deadly attack on a UN compound.

Dozens of people were killed after an armed mob attacked a United Nations base in South Sudan.

Thursday’s attack happened at the UN mission base in the town of Bor, in Jonglei state, where about 5,000 displaced people have been sheltered following months of conflict in that part of the country.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird strongly condemned the attack in a statement on Friday.

“These cowardly attacks on defenseless civilians, including women and children, appear to be ethnically based,” Baird said.

It’s unclear exactly how many people were killed, but Reuters quoted an unnamed UN source saying there were 58 people killed and at least 100 others wounded.

Most of the injured were ethnic Neurs who fled their homes after fighting broke out in December.

Violent clashes between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and former vice-president Riek Machar – a Neur – spread rapidly throughout the country.

Thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the months following.

Baird affirmed Canada’s support for the UN Mission in South Sudan, saying its neutral role is to protect civilians and seek a resolution to the conflict.

READ MORE: UN official calls South Sudan ‘horrifying human rights disaster’ (Jan. 17)

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the attack on peacekeepers is “unacceptable and constitutes a war crime.”

The mob of about 350 youth reportedly posed as peaceful protesters who planned to present a petition at the base.

“They managed to force the gate open, they came in and started shooting indiscriminately,” Toby Lanzer, a senior UN aid official in South Sudan, told the BBC.

Lanzer said UN peacekeepers were able “repel” the attackers.

According to Reuters, UN peacekeepers working at the base were from India, Nepal and South Korea.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan operates eight bases throughout the country, which have been sheltering approximately 67,000 people displaced by the conflict.

More than one million people have fled their homes since that time, the UN said.

A UN official on Friday said a surgical team from Doctors Without Borders flew into Bor to help treat those injured in Thursday’s attack. The United Nations has also reinforced security at Bor, the official said.

Risk of famine, child soldier recruitment

Secretary-General Moon warned Wednesday that up to one million people face potential famine-level hunger because of the fighting.

Meanwhile, UNICEF representative Jonathan Veitch said that during intense fighting in the oil hub of Bentiu in Unity State earlier this week, hundreds of children fled onto a U.N. base for protection.

Others were observed carrying weapons, wearing uniforms and undergoing military training, The Associated Press reported Veitch saying.

He said UNICEF has credible reports that both sides to the conflict are recruiting children.

He cited the case of a 16-year-old boy who was gravely injured in the fighting and reported having been forcibly recruited three months ago by an armed group.

With files from The Associated Press