“Mass graves? We’ve never had mass graves.”
The year 2009 was the most violent South Sudan has seen since the signing of the 2005 peace agreement, with the death rate higher than in Darfur. In clashes far more serious than simple cattle raids, villages -- rather than cattle camps -- have been attacked and women and children targeted. "Violence is surging," reports Medecins Sans Frontieres. "Plunging people from one disaster to the next." UN officials have noticed an unusual "ease and availability of ammunition" in the region, which suggests an influx of weapons, possibly from northern Sudanese officials interested in breeding chaos in the south.