A United Nations official said Friday there is evidence of child soldiers being used in both sides of the war in South Sudan in what has become a "horrifying human rights disaster," according to the Associate Press.
U.N. Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic said the civil conflict which has killed thousands in South Sudan since it began on Dec. 15 has consisted of major violations from both the Dinka and Nuer, including the recruitment of children to fight, the AP reported.
Among the violations being committed are mass killings, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions and sexual violence, according to Simonovic, the AP reported.
"Quite a number of child soldiers have been recruited in the so-called White Army," Simonovic said, according to the AP."We are thoroughly investigating these allegations."
The conflict in South Sudan has stemmed from a political dispute between President Salva Kiir Mayardit, whose ethnicity is Dinka, and former vice president Riek Machar who is Nuer, according to the AP. The dispute, which removed Machar from his seat, began a separation of followers based on ethnic background.
According to Simonovic, the fighting between the Nuer and Dinka is not so much a civil war, but more like an "internal armed conflict" between the ethnicities, according to the AP.
During the press conference on Friday, Simonovic reported the oil-rich city of Bentiu "was completely burnt down" with dead bodies laying in the streets, according to the AP.
After being handed off and controlled by both the government and rebel groups, the city of Bentiu "simply does not exist anymore," according to Simonovic, the AP reported.
An investigation into the crimes being committed by both the Dinka and Nuer are needed, according to Simonovic, who said an independent and impartial fact-finding commission is needed to bring those accountable to justice, according to the AP.
"It is punishable not only to command and commit crime but to not prevent them when you could and should have," Simonovic said, the AP reported.
