Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting and updating situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.

Lord’s Resistance Army

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has stepped up its activity in the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during 2016, perpetrating attacks and abductions at levels unseen in recent years. According to the LRA Crisis Tracker, the group is responsible for 417 abductions and 14 civilian fatalities in CAR and the DRC since the start of 2016. Populations are at heightened risk from the LRA in the remote areas in which the group operates.

Yemen

On 26 June the UN Secretary-General addressed delegations at the UN-supported peace talks for Yemen in Kuwait. The Secretary-General asserted that “time is not on the side of the Yemeni people. With every day that the conflict remains unresolved, their situation grows worse.” While the Secretary-General was in Kuwait, violence flared in Yemen, with more than 80 people killed in clashes between pro-government forces/the Saudi-led coalition and Houthis from 26 to 28 June, as well as an additional 40 killed during a suicide bombing claimed by ISIL on 27 June.

South Sudan

On 21 June the UN accepted responsibility for failing to protect civilians in Malakal, South Sudan, following a report by a UN independent high-level board of inquiry that looked into circumstances surrounding violent clashes on 17 and 18 February, which claimed the lives of at least 30 people at the UN’s Malakal base. On 25 June fighting between the SPLA and armed groups in Wau state resulted in the death of at least 43 people. According to the UN, at least 12,000 people were being protected near its base in Wau.

Syria

On 26 June Syrian and Russian air strikes targeting crowded areas, including a mosque, killed at least 60 civilians in the town of al-Quriyah, Deir ez-Zor province. Among those killed were at least 25 children. UNICEF responded by arguing that, “Nothing justifies attacks on children – no matter where they are – nor under whose control they live.” On 29 June the UN Special Envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, will brief the UN Security Council on the intra-Syrian political process, which was halted on 18 April amidst escalating violence.