In S.Sudan war, US Marine among thousands who vanished

An undated photo released on December 16, 2014 by close friend and fellow US citizen Seth Mock, shows United States Marine Lam Choul Thichoung. By (Courtesy of Seth Mock/AFP/File)

Nairobi (AFP) - He survived civil war and fought in Iraq as a United States Marine, but when fighting erupted a year ago in his birth nation South Sudan, Lam Choul Thichoung vanished.

The last his family heard from the 40-year old father-of-two and US citizen from Nebraska was a desperate message amid the crackle of gunfire saying he was heading back out into the dark on the war-torn streets to rescue his brother.

"He was going to the US embassy for safety, but then he went back out to rescue his brother," said close friend and fellow US citizen Seth Mock, who also comes originally from South Sudan.

"Since then, we've heard nothing," he said, his voice breaking with emotion.

Thichoung escaped war in his homeland as a young boy, fleeing as a refugee to Ethiopia, then to Kenya, and finally to the US.

He fought with the US marine corps in Iraq, and his military portrait shows a man standing stiff and proud in his army uniform, with white peaked cap and gleaming buttons.

But after building a life for himself in Nebraska, he returned back to his birth place to help rebuild the world's youngest nation, left in ruins after the decades of civil war that paved the way to independence in 2011.

"He went back to rebuild, to help his country get back onto its feet, because he was optimistic and hopeful for South Sudan," said 29-year old Mock. "He wanted to help, to build a better future."

- Massacres, gang rapes -

Along with his brother Pal, also a US citizen, he worked for then vice-president Riek Machar as his personal secretary.

But times grew tough when Machar was sacked in July last year. In December 2013, fighting broke out and the former vice president was accused of starting a coup. His men were hunted down, arrested or killed.

In the following days, gunfire and explosions shook the city, as troops loyal to President Salva Kiir fought it out with those allied to Machar.

Witnesses reported soldiers going door-to-door, as members of Kiir's Dinka tribe hunted down ethnic Nuer, the people of Machar. At night, bodies were trucked out of the city and burned or buried, witnesses and human rights groups say.

Days later, fellow US marines swooped into Juba to help evacuate American citizens. Rebel gunmen hit Osprey aircraft, wounding the pilots as they airlifted citizens out from raging battles in the town of Bor.

This week, as South Sudan marks the one year anniversary since war broke out, 29-year old Mock has organised candle-lit vigils to remember his friend and all other South Sudanese who were killed or vanished during the conflict.

"We need some closure, to understand exactly what happened to him, because it is still so hard to believe he could just vanish like that," said Mock, speaking by telephone from Omaha, Nebraska, where he runs small businesses as well as supports refugees.

Thichoung's family and friends are desperate for news, saying that someone, somewhere, must know what happened.

- 'Extreme cruelty, horrific abuses' -

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon this week confirmed for the first time that "tens of thousands" have been killed, but no official toll has been kept either by the government, rebels or UN.

The International Crisis Group estimates that at least 50,000 people have been killed, while some diplomats suggest it could even be double that figure.

Former Ethiopian foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin, chief mediator of stalled peace talks between the rival forces, noted gloomily this week that "the war is so cruel that nobody has even indicated whether they hold prisoners of war."

Without any apparent fear of the consequences, armed groups have shot and gang raped patients in their hospital beds, massacred civilians in churches and machine-gunned fleeing civilians in swamps -- leaving their bodies to rot, be carried away by the Nile river or be consumed by its crocodiles.

Thousands more are feared to have died from hunger and disease in isolated villages, swamps and bush beyond the reach of aid agencies.

"What really shocked people was the speed at which the conflict spread, the extreme cruelty and the level of horrific abuses in it," said Skye Wheeler from Human Rights Watch.

Both Kiir's forces and rebels loyal to Machar have been accused of widespread atrocities -- massacres, gang rapes and child soldier recruitment -- that have seen the country teeter on the brink of genocide.

Campaigners say South Sudan is locked in conflict, with the bloodshed that erupted in Juba a year ago having set off a cycle of retaliatory massacres across large swathes of the country.

Like tens of thousands of others whose family members vanished and are presumed dead, relatives of Thichoung wait for news.

"In the end, we still hope he is alive, but really, we just want to know what happened," Mock said.