The continuing violence in Africa’s newest country, South Sudan, has been tragic for all South Sudanese now living in Austin, according to Dr. Gatluak Duop Dieth, who said he lost six members of his extended family there Oct. 10.

Dieth, 47, contacted the Herald last week after he learned about an attack Oct. 10 on his home village, which has a population of about 600 people. Eleven people were killed and around 20 were wounded, he said.

“The government soldiers, they went to my village at night,” Dieth said. “They surrounded the village ….  and they killed children and women.”

He called after hearing about it and spoke to a community member who “told me that I have six people who were killed in my family,” he said.

As the result of a 2005 agreement that ended Africa’s longest-running civil war, South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011, according to a profile of the country by the BBC. It is home to more than 60 major ethnic groups, making it one of the most diverse countries on the continent.

A civil war within South Sudan began shortly after independence and has displaced at least 2.2 million people, the profile says. Warring sides signed a peace deal in 2015, but the conflict continues.

Dieth  and his wife, Austin residents, have six children. He is the executive director of the Nile Peace Development Relief Agency. Its mission statement is: “The Nile Peace Development Relief Agency (NPDRA) is (a) non-profit organization which will work to promote peace, unity, relief assistance and development in South Sudan. The NPDRA will prioritize communication with other organizations. It will provide assistance to the hurting refugees and vulnerable people who have need for help.”

He has traveled back and forth to South Sudan. In 2016, he conducted a workshop there on peace and living together, he said. As a pastor, he said,  “I preach online every Sunday in (the) Nuer language … I try to help people because that war, it affects so many lives.”

He and his family attend Austin’s Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Dieth is a member of the Nuer, the largest tribe in South Sudan, he said.

“I’m proud to say I am a Nuer-American,” he said.

He was in South Sudan when the civil war broke out and was evacuated back to the U.S. by the American government, he said.

“The president of South Sudan is committing genocide,” he said. “He killed 50,000 people in the capital city.

“The war that is going on now in South Sudan affects the lives of many people,” he said. “In this this war I lost 10 people in my family. I lost four people in 2014.

“I have two brothers, one brother is still in Africa —  my elder brother. My younger brother is in Nebraska. My brother who is in Africa has two sons — his youngest son got killed and his elder brother got wounded. We are not sure if he is alive. Nobody knows. He was seriously wounded. (My eldest brother’s) daughter’s husband got killed. And my cousin, his son was killed and my other cousin his two sons were killed.”

He is overwhelmed with grief, he said, but added all South Sudanese families in Austin have been affected by the civil war.

“Everybody has a relative that has been killed,” he said.

To help the cause of peace, he urges Americans to encourage President Donald Trump to pressure South Sudan’s government.

“Innocent people die and other people depend on the death of the other people,” he said. “The African leaders, now, they don’t want to bring their peace, but if people can unite, can support us and take our message to the president, Donald Trump, and get more pressure to the president of South Sudan — sanctions — that is the way can bring peace. Peace can return to South Sudan.”

Dieth also said victims of the violence need medicine.

“If there is way for you to give medicine, give medicine,” he said.

In July, the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway and the European Union issued a joint statement in July condemning the South Sudan government’s offensive against opposition forces, as well as road ambushes and attacks by the opposition.

On Sept. 6, the U.S. Treasury announced “targeted sanctions on two South Sudanese government officials and one former official for their roles in threatening the peace, security, or stability of South Sudan, and three companies that are owned or controlled by one of those individuals. Treasury also released a Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Advisory, alerting U.S. financial institutions to the possibility that certain South Sudanese senior political figures may try to use the U.S. financial system to move or hide proceeds of public corruption.”

The Treasury’s announcement also said: “Six million people in South Sudan – half of the population – face life-threatening hunger while more than four million people have been displaced from their homes, including two million refugees. This is a man-made crisis, and one the government of South Sudan can stop. We continue to make clear to South Sudan’s leaders that they must honor their declared ceasefire, revive the 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan by engaging meaningfully with opposition parties, bring an end to atrocities, stop the harassment of aid workers, stem human rights abuses, cooperate fully with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, and take action against corruption. We urge all parties to engage constructively and seriously in the upcoming Intergovernmental Authority on Development High-Level Revitalization Forum for the South Sudan peace process.”