South Sudanese officials are conceding that their military, the SPLA, is responsible for two incidents in the past week in which they rounded up civilians and massacred them, with a combined death toll of 23.

Such incidents are nothing new, with the South Sudanese military regularly insinuating itself into local clashes which end up with massive death tolls that almost always include large numbers of civilians.

The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has often downplayed the reports of major civilian death tolls, but today confirmed it was “aware” of the latest incidents, and would do some sort of investigation.

The SPLA, for its part, insisted everyone that they executed in the Jonglei incident “must be people that belonged to Yauyau,” referring to a local rebel militia, noting that just because the slain were dressed as civilians doesn’t mean they were civilians.

Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz

• Poll Shows Overwhelming Opposition to US Attacking Syria - May 22nd, 2013
• Kerry Confident Syria Counter-Offensive Will Fail - May 22nd, 2013
• Karzai Gives India 'Wish List' of Military Gear - May 22nd, 2013
• Report: Obama May Restart Gitmo Transfers - May 22nd, 2013
• Ten Dead in Latest Round of North Lebanon Fighting - May 22nd, 2013