The Nuer massacre, which occurred from December 15 to December 18, 2013, was a well-organized, intentional mass killing perpetrated against thousands of Nuer civilians by Dinka SPLA soldiers, Presidential Guard - Tiger Division, and Mathiang Anyoor (Dut Ku Beny), supported by Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF), orchestrated by the President of the Republic of South Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit, Jieng Council of Elders (JCE), and Dinka high-ranking military generals within the SPLA army in Juba.
[13][14][15][16] Concerns about possible political instability have been raised by the sackings in this young country that is torn apart by ethnic communal conflicts, and still recovering from decades of Sudanese second civil war.
[14] According to Clemence Pinaud, an Associate Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, the move was ethnically motivated and highly influenced by the Jieng Council of Elders to oppose the democratic transition of power in the young nation.
[7][page needed] After Riek Machar announced that he would run for presidency in the 2015 general election,[18][19] Gen. Pagan Amum Okiech, former Secretary General of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the ruling party, and Brig Gen. Madam Rebecca Nyandeng Garang, the wife of the late John Garang De Mabior also declared their candidacy to challenge Kiir for the presidency afterward.
[21] Kiir secretly recruited a private tribal army, dubbed the Mathiang Anyoor or Tiger battalion, outside of the normal SPLA structure and placed them under Gen. Paul Malong Awan, Governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal state.
[21] On the morning of December 15, 2013, President Salva Kiir's speech at the National Liberation Council meeting triggered the beginning of the killing, the deadliest, and most notable tragedy ever inflicted on the Nuer People.
[27] In the evening of December 15, 2013, with the coup successfully simulated at the Giada Military Barracks, at a pre-arranged signal, Dinka civilian youth in Juba from the President's Warrap Home State and Northern Bahr el Ghazal was summoned and armed, according to AU Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan.
The Dinka SPLA generals upon President Salva Kiir and Jieng Council of Elders' order, conducted a military operation systematically killing along the ethnic line in Juba.
[29] Prior to the speech, the Mathiang Anyoor was secretly mobilized and relocated to Juba, the Capital City of South Sudan, and was let loose on the Nuer People on December 15, 2013.
Generals Paul Malong Awan, Bol Akot, Garang Mabil, Salva Mathok, Marial Chanoung, and Akol Koor, a cabal of hard and ruthless men, were to coordinate and liaise between the Dut Ku Beny and the respective forces under their command in Juba.
The Chief of General Staff, Gen. James Hoth Mai, and the SPLA leadership in Juba were not to know or even be remotely involved, instead, he was expressly granted leave of absence to visit family in Australia by the president and Commander-in-Chief, Gen. Salva Kiir, because he was a Nuer.
[31][32] The operational plan was quite clear and simple; Set up roadblocks all over Juba City and then send out the president's private army (Dut ku Beny), backed up by elements of the Presidential Guard and the National Security Services who would guide them, on house-to-house searches and targeted killings of Nuer peoples.
Mass graves were dug up in the New Site cemetery opposite the Bilpham SPLA General Headquarters and near another military facility behind the Jebel Kujur Mountain.
[43] Ivan Šimonović, a Human Rights Watch official in the United Nations and a former Justice Minister of Croatia condemned the Gudele massacre and called it "horrible crimes".
Gen. Marial Noor, the infamous former head of the disbanded Public Security, was drafted in towards the end because of his reputation for savagery and history of elimination of undesirables during the liberation struggle days.
Museveni, a ruthless man who was known for his dictatorship and harsh treatment of his political opponent played a huge role in the disastrous tragedy inflicted on the Nuer.
[50] Around the week of February 7, 2014, there was a report from United Nations de-mining workers about the use of cluster bombs by UPDF and SPLA against the Nuer fighters after the remnants of this type of weapons were found on Juba-Bor road 16 kilometers south of Bor where the fighting was intense.
[51][53] After previously denying their involvement in the South Sudan conflict, UPDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda admitted to Al Jazeera on January 16, 2014, that their forces were fighting alongside President Kiir's troops against the Nuer fighters in Bor town.
IGAD "Intergovernmental Authority on Development" condemned Ugandan troops' involvement and deemed it as "unbenevolent act" and "not helping" in their quest to bring peace and stability to South Sudan.
Børge Brende Norwegian Foreign Minister urged President Museveni to start withdrawing his troops from Juba, Bor, and the surrounding areas.
[58] As part of their seven-month investigation into the South Sudan conflict, the UN Commission on Human Rights described the incident as "teetering on the edge of genocide and experiencing ethnic cleansing, a stark portrayal of a nation that is now deep into civil war".
The decision to temporarily remove certain employees and dependents from the British Embassy in South Sudan was made by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which has issued a travel advisory for Juba and other areas of the country.