The Obama administration condemned a reported massacre by rebel fighters in South Sudan late Tuesday as the world’s newest country was threatened to be torn apart by ethnic violence.
The statement from White House press secretary Jay Carney came after the U.N.’s top humanitarian official said that gunmen targeted civilians, including children and the elderly, and left “piles and piles” of bodies in a mosque and a hospital in the provincial capital city of Bentiu.
“Images and accounts of the attacks shock the conscience,” the White House statement read, in part. “Stacks of bodies found dead inside a mosque, patients murdered at a hospital, and dozens more shot and killed in the streets and at a church — apparently due to their ethnicity and nationality — while hate speech was broadcast on local radio.
“These acts of violence are an abomination,” the statement continued. “They are a betrayal of the trust the South Sudanese people have put in their leaders. This is exactly the violence and suffering the South Sudanese people fought for decades to escape … the cycle of violence in South Sudan must come to an end.”
