The United Nations is condemning the targeting and killings of hundreds of civilians in South Sudan by forces loyal to rebel leader and former vice president Riek Machar.  This happened as the rebels retook the major oil-producing hub of Bentiu.

South Sudan has several ethnic groups, but the conflict has pit the two largest groups against each other.  Machar’s rebels are from the Nuer community – President Salva Kiir is a member of the country's largest group, the Dinka.

Last week, Nuer militias moved into Bentiu, rounded up residents – most of whom had sought refuge in churches, mosques and hospitals – and separated them by their ethnic groups.  The non-Nuers were killed, whether they were South Sudan citizens or foreign nationals.  Nuer civilians who tried to hide from the violence instead of cheering on the militias were also killed.  The United Nations Mission in South Sudan says 200 people who had sought shelter in a single mosque were slaughtered.

And in an echo from the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s, the UN says the rebels were urged on by FM radio stations that were broadcasting ethnic-based “hate speech”, encouraging “men from one community to commit vengeful sexual violence against women from another community,” according to the UN statement.

“These atrocities must be fully investigated, and the perpetrators and their commanders shall be held accountable,” said Raisedon Zenenga, from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan.

It was only a few months ago that government troops took Bentiu from the first rebel occupation.  At that time, they uncovered evidence of ethnic violence and a mass grave of 75 bodies.