Ethnic killings rampant in once-placid South Sudan town

Isaac waited as soldiers came to take away his cellmates, one by one, fearing the worst as the uniformed men returned alone and spattered in blood.

A day earlier the 24-year-old pharmacy assistant was detained by soldiers from South Sudan's majority Dinka tribe, while taking medicine to his sick father outside the southwestern town of Yei.

Searching his bag, the soldiers discovered the medicine and knew by his language that he was a member of the Kakwa ethnic group.

They accused him of trying to supply medicine to anti-government rebels -- many of them Kakwa -- hiding in the bush and took him to the small room on a military base that was to be his prison.

Four others shared the cell overnight. A man named James was the first to be called out.

"They said he was going to fetch water. But we waited all evening, that guy was not back until now," said Isaac, who spoke to AFP in a refugee camp in northern Uganda and did not want to give his last name.

Later, when the soldier returned, "his chest was bloodied even the legs was full of blood." A second man was called out.

Fearing for their lives Isaac and his remaining cellmate began to pray and cry out.

The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) is dominated by Dinkas but includes other tribes from the Equatoria region where Yei is situated. Five soldiers responded to their shouts.

Soldiers caned by comrades

Hearing that two Kakwa prisoners had disappeared, the Equatorian soldiers went to their Dinka commander. "He said that's not their concern," said Isaac. 

From the window of his cell Isaac could see what happened next. 

At the order of the commander, the five Equatorian soldiers were made to stand in the sun and each was caned 50 times.

Hours later those soldiers turned their guns on their officers and demanded the prisoners be released. 

The cell door was opened and Isaac fled. Days later he was on the road with his family walking to Uganda.

Ethnic violence has characterised South Sudan's political crisis since conflict erupted in 2013, and refugees fleeing Yei have described a disturbing pattern of targeted killings in the town that was once a haven of peace in the war-torn country.

The conflict initially pitted Dinka and Nuer supporters of President Salva Kiir and his former vice-president Riek Machar against each other.

However observers say it has metastasised with other tribes joining one side or the other, often with the hope of getting an upper hand in local conflicts over land and other issues.