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20-518: Nhialdiu is in Leek Nuer country. The village is at a strategic junction of dirt roads. Between June 1997 and November 1998 fighting between factions in the Nhialdiu area caused about 70% of the population to flee to Bentiu and Mankien . In early 1998 villages around Nhialdiu were looted and destroyed. The health center in Nhialdiu was destroyed. Between July and August 2000 during fighting between militias

40-675: A counterattack on the Leek, causing more civilians to flee to Nhialdiu, Bentiu and Rubkona . In January 2007 the vice-president of the Government of South Sudan visited the village. That week there was small-scale spear fighting in Pakcur and Nhialdiu in which five people were wounded in revenge for a killing that had taken place three months before. In August 2011 a public bus with 12 passengers hit landmines when travelling from Bentiu to Nhialdiu. Two people died and six were injured. The government suspected that

60-542: A large band of country between Nimne and Nhialdiu was depopulated and burned to the ground. Many attacks were reported on villages around Nhialdiu in January–April 2002. A study of Landsat data between 1999 and 2004 showed major shifts in land use that closely corresponded to reports of fighting in Block 5A . Between 1999 and 2002 most farming activity stopped in the bands that extended 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) on each side of

80-597: A militia linked to Gai Yoach had planted the mines. As of January 2010 the Primary Health Care Center at Nhialdiu was partially equipped, and was being staffed by qualified nurses. The center was short of supplies of vaccines and medicines. Bentiu Bentiu , also spelled Bantiu , is a city in South Sudan . It is the capital of Unity State . Bentiu is located in Rubkona County , Unity State , in

100-825: A series of shocking attacks had occurred, against 125 women and girls who were walking to a food distribution center in Bentiu. On December 20, the Government of South Sudan said "claims of sexual attacks on more than 150 women and girls outside Bentiu in Northern Liech State are unfounded and baseless." The United Nations Mission in South Sudan deployed a human rights team to the area to investigate allegations of 150 rapes, added patrols for additional protection, and began clearing brush and vegetation from roadsides to deter attackers. A 2021 documentary, Voices from Bentiu , portrays

120-559: The Dinka people , an ethnic group which had traditionally supported Kiir's government. Rebel leader Riek Machar said his forces were not behind the killings and rebel spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said, "the government forces and their allies committed these heinous crimes while retreating." The massacre at Bentiu greatly increased the animosity of Dinkas against ethnic Nuer in Bahr el Ghazal which had previously been largely peaceful and unaffected by

140-593: The El Salaam Bridge that spans the river. This bridge, along with a market, was bombed and partially damaged by North Sudanese MiG-29 bomber airplanes on April 23, 2012, during the Heglig Crisis . At least three people were killed in the raid. As of 2006 , the population of Bentiu including entire Guit County Payams was estimated at 100,230. The town was the administrative, political and commercial center of Unity state before its reorganisation in 2015 into

160-580: The Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan , near the international border with the Republic of the Sudan . It lies approximately 654 kilometers (406 miles), by road, northwest of Juba , the capital and largest city in the country. Bentiu sits on the southern bank of the Bahr el Ghazal River that separates it from the town of Rubkona , which sits on the river's northern bank. The two towns are joined by

180-520: The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Sudanese rebel group from Darfur accused of supporting the South Sudanese government. According to the source, JEM fighters removed their uniforms and hid in the mosque, before being shot. However, a Sudanese human rights group rejected this claim, saying those killed were unarmed civilians. Many other victims were civilians as well as SPLA soldiers belonging to

200-870: The available water supply, with the assistance of the Groundwater Relief charitable organization. In 2018, a tree nursery pilot project was implemented for the camp, by the International Organization for Migration South Sudan, with support from the USAID Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and the European Commission Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations , using "local trees such as mango , guava , neem, dinkipesha, ban, keer, meth, lemon , bannes, powpow, dhuras, chokas, etc." In November 2018, Doctors without Borders reported that

220-498: The following: Bentiu is also the location of the planned Western Upper Nile University, a promise by the state's education officials to speed up the higher education system in what was then Unity state. Bentiu has three primary schools and two secondary schools. These schools were teaching in Arabic before 2005, and as of 2011, English is being taught. 2014 Bentiu massacre The 2014 Bentiu massacre occurred on 15 April 2014 in

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240-617: The newly built oil roads. Traditional farming areas were abandoned and there was a gradual drift of farming activity towards the south and west. By 2002 there was no sign of any farming activity around Nhialdiu, where a series of village attacks were reported for the last three years. Sporadic security problems continued after the end of the civil war in January 2005. On 23 March 2005 Leek Nuer raiders attacked cattle camps around Nhialdiu killing twenty people and taking 24,000 head of cattle. 6,000-10,000 civilians took refuge in Nhialdiu. The Bul launched

260-462: The ones left behind. Civilians were killed in the town's main hospital, in a Catholic church and especially in the Kali-Ballee mosque , where hundreds had taken shelter and where the rebels "separated individuals of certain nationalities and ethnic groups and escorted them to safety, while the others were killed," according to a UN report. One of those who only barely escaped death during the massacre

280-556: The other groups to rape the non-Nuer women. UN human rights investigators said that after rebels wrested Bentiu from government forces in heavy battles, the gunmen spent two days hunting down those who they believed opposed them. The killers, identified by the United Nations as forces of the Nuer-led SPLM/A-IO , went from place to place, from mosque to church to hospital, separating people by ethnicity and religion and shooting

300-509: The ransacked town of Bentiu, and Doctors Without Borders had begun to provide medical services. A 2015 survey indicated that Nuer was the preferred language for radio and news in the camp. By 2016, the camp was considered the largest refugee camp in South Sudan, and over 120,000 people had sought refuge there to escape fighting. Conditions in the camp were especially difficult in the dry season, when temperatures can reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit . Additional wells were drilled to increase

320-509: The three new states of Ruweng , Southern Liech , and Northern Liech , and since the state's re-establishment. The state governor maintains the headquarters of the state in the town, however the county headquarters for Rubkona County are situated in the town of Rubkona , across the river. During the South Sudanese conflict that began in December 2013, the national government lost control of

340-524: The town of Bentiu , in the north of South Sudan , during the South Sudanese Civil War . The attack was described by The Economist as the "worst massacre" of the civil war. Prior to the attack, people had sought refuge in places of worship and healing, while a local radio station featured rebel commanders warning certain ethnic groups, except the Nuers , that they were coming for them, calling on

360-601: The town to a commander loyal to former vice president Riek Machar , although Machar denied this. Violence in the area continued, and on January 17, 2014, a United Nations official was quoted as saying that the town "simply did not exist anymore", and that "it was completely burnt down". In April 2014, hundreds of Bentiu civilians were massacred by the " Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition Army " led by Machar. In December 2014, between 40,000 and 50,000 people lived in Bentiu's refugee/ IDP camp, located outside

380-519: The work of Doctors not Borders staff and patients. The population count at the camp as of October 2023 was fluctuating between roughly 100,000 to 160,000, as people sought refuge from armed conflicts and two years of flooding due to heavy rainfall. After the destruction during the Second Sudanese Civil War , infrastructure in and around Bentiu is now being rebuilt. The projects that have been rehabilitated, constructed, or restored include

400-526: Was the prominent former warlord and pro-government commander Peter Par Jiek . A week after the attack, bodies still littered the streets. South Sudan's government said the death toll from the massacre exceeded 400. In the main mosque alone, "more than 200 civilians were reportedly killed and over 400 wounded," the UN mission in the country said. According to a source, many of the victims were Sudanese , in particular traders from Darfur as well as soldiers from

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