남수단 '쿠데타' 유혈사태 격화…"사상자 1천명 넘어"

Published : Dec 18, 2013 - 10:48 Updated : Dec 18, 2013 - 10:48

아프리카 북동부 남수단에서 정부군과 반대파간 교전이 사흘째 이어져 사상자가 1천 명 이상 나오는 등 유혈사태가 격화되고 있다.

에르베 라드수 유엔 평화유지 담당 사무차장은 17일(현지시간) 유엔 안전보장이사회 비공개 협의에서 남수단 수도 주바의 병원에 시신 400∼500구가 실려왔고 부상자가 약 800명에 달한다고 밝혔다고 외교 소식통들이 AFP통신에 전했다.

다만, 이 수치는 주바 현지 병원들의 보고에 근거한 것으로 유엔이 확인한 내용은 아니라는 전제를 달았다.

남수단에서는 지난 15일 밤부터 살바 키르 대통령이 이끄는 정부군과 반대파 군인들이 총격전을 벌이고 있다.

키르 대통령은 16일 "쿠데타 시도를 격퇴했다"고 발표하며 리크 마차르 전 부통령을 주동자로 지목했다. 그는 여당인 수단인민해방운동(SPLM) 내 대통령 반대파의 수장으로 지난 7월 전격 해임됐다.

정부는 이날 전 재무장관 등 전직 각료 다수를 비롯한 고위 정치인 10명을 쿠데타 기도 혐의로 체포했으며 달아난 마차르 전 부통령을 쫓고 있다고 밝혔다.

마차르 측은 아직 별다른 입장을 내놓지 않고 있다.

정부는 이외에도 수단과 석유 협상 책임자였던 파간 아뭄 전 SPLM 사무총장 등 4명을 수배자 명단에 올렸다.

유엔은 1만5천∼2만명이 주바 인근 유엔 기지 영내로 피신했다고 밝혔다.

미국은 이날 여행 경보를 발령하는 동시에 주재 외교관들도 공관 업무를 중단하고 비상 인력만 남긴 채 즉시 철수하라고 지시했다.

마리 하프 국무부 부대변인은 미국 국민 탈출을 지원하기 위해 남수단 당국과 협의 중이라고 밝혔다.

하프 부대변인은 그러나 "상황이 유동적"이라며 현 상황을 '쿠데타'로 규정하는 것은 유보했다.

반기문 유엔 사무총장은 이날 키르 대통령과 통화하면서 반대파에 대화를 제안하고 평화적으로 갈등을 해결할 것을 촉구했다. 반 총장은 인접국인 우간다 요웨리 무세베니 대통령과도 통화하고 사태 대응 방안을 논의했다.

아프리카 북동부에 있는 남수단은 지난 2011년 7월 수단에서 분리 독립한 이후 종족 간 갈등에 시달려 왔다. 키르 대통령은 최대 다수 종족인 딩카 족, 마차르 전 부통령은 두번째로 큰 누에르 족 출신이다.

수단과의 석유 협상이 난항을 겪으면서 경제난도 심화, 키르 대통령에 대한 불만과 종족 분열을 부채질한 바 있다.(연합뉴스)

<관련영문기사>

UN: Hundreds estimated killed in South Sudan

Fighting in South Sudan has killed up to 500 people, U.N. diplomats said Tuesday, and the United Nations fears the violence in the oil-rich East African country is ``largely along ethnic lines.''

The United States ordered its citizens to leave South Sudan immediately.

The president of South Sudan, which is also the world's newest country, has blamed the violence on a coup attempt by soldiers loyal to his former deputy, who belongs to a different ethnic group.

As many as 20,000 people have taken refuge with the U.N. mission in the capital, Juba, the president of the Security Council, French Ambassador Gerard Araud, told reporters.

Araud said the council received only ``patchy information'' in a special briefing Tuesday evening by the U.N. peacekeeping chief, with the cause of the violence yet unknown.

``We are extremely concerned,'' Araud said. ``There is a heavy toll, that's obvious,'' he added.

U.N. diplomats said they were told that local sources in Juba put the death toll at 400 to 500, but that figure could not be verified.

Araud said that for the moment, civilians are not being targeted, and he described the violence as ``infighting between soldiers.''

Sporadic but heavy gunfire has been heard across Juba since Sunday as factions of the armed forces repeatedly clashed.

The office of U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon issued a statement saying the secretary-general is ``deeply concerned'' about ``the risk of targeted violence against certain communities.'' He urged everyone to immediately cease their hostilities.

The U.S. Embassy said in an advisory that Americans who choose to stay in South Sudan ``should review their personal security situation and seriously reconsider their plans.'' The embassy suspended its normal operations.

President Salva Kiir told the nation on Monday that a group of soldiers loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar, whom he fired in July amid a power struggle, tried to take power by force but were defeated. Kiir then ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the capital.

The alleged coup attempt took place Sunday when some soldiers raided the main army barracks' weapons store in Juba but were repelled by loyalists, sparking gunfights across the city, Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told The Associated Press.

Some officials had previously estimated the casualties could be in the hundreds.

There are ``disturbing reports of ethnically-targeted killings,'' with most of the fighting pitting soldiers from Kiir's majority Dinka tribe against those from Machar's Nuer tribe, said Casie Copeland, the South Sudan analyst for the International Crisis Group.

``The fighting has been fierce and parts of Juba have been reduced to rubble,'' she said.

The South Sudanese military has arrested five political leaders with suspected links to the coup attempt, and many more are still being sought, Benjamin said. The government later said in a statement that 10 people have been arrested in connection with the alleged coup plot, and five remain at large, including Machar.

The U.S. Embassy in Juba and the U.N. Mission in South Sudan have denied they are harboring Machar, Benjamin added.

The hunt for Machar, an influential politician who is one of the heroes of a brutal war for independence waged against Sudan, threatens to send the country into further political upheaval.

Machar, the deputy leader of the ruling party, said he would contest the presidency in 2015. He has openly criticized Kiir, saying if South Sudan is to be united it cannot tolerate ``one man's rule or it cannot tolerate dictatorship.''

The international community has repeatedly urged South Sudan's leaders to exercise restraint amid fears the violence could spark wider ethnic violence.

The U.N. chief told Kiir in a telephone call Tuesday that he expected him ``to exercise real leadership at this critical moment, and to instill discipline in the ranks of the (Sudanese military) to stop this fighting among them,'' according to U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky.

South Sudan has been plagued by ethnic tension since it broke away from Sudan in 2011. In the rural Jonglei state, where the government is trying to put down a rebellion, the military itself faces charges of widespread abuses against the Murle ethnic group.

Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda. AP writers Cara Anna and Edith M. Lederer at the U.N. contributed to this report. (AP)