ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia 

South Sudan's rebels lashed out at a new report by Human Rights Watch and the United Nations Children’s Fund that said that the SPLM/A-IO forces killed 129 children in the past month in Unity state.

In a statement issued on Saturday, military spokesperson Dickson Gatluak said “atrocities against the innocent civilians in Unity state, particularly in areas controlled by opposition forces,” were committed by government forces.

“Those killed were their [the rebel soldiers’] mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and children of which I don’t see any reason why the IO forces should kill their own native by blood,” he said.

South Sudan has been shaken by violence since last December, when President Salva Kiir accused his sacked vice president, Riek Machar, of trying to overthrow him.

Last week, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said over 100,000 people have been displaced over the last two months alone.