"Chaotic and ineffective" is how the United Nations has described the response of its peacekeepers to an attack on a South Sudan hotel in July.
Armed soldiers stormed the building in the nation's capital, Juba, holding off South Sudan's National Security Service for nearly four hours as they were trying to rescue civilians held inside.
An independent UN-commissioned report into the incident states the hostages were subjected to "gross human human rights violations, including murder, intimidation, sexual violence and acts amounting to torture".
The UN Secretary-General's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, says the investigation reveals key weak points of the mission, UNMISS.
"The Special Investigation found that UNMISS did not respond effectively to the violence due to an overall lack of leadership, preparedness and integration among the various components of the mission. The special investigation also found that command and control arrangements were inadequate, while peacekeepers maintained a risk-averse posture. These factors contributed to the failure of UNMISS to respond to the attack by government soldiers on the Terrain camp on July 11th and protect civilians under threat."
The UN has blamed inconsistent leadership for the inadequate response, saying the four troop contingents were subject to "multiple and sometimes conflicting orders".
It has ordered the immediate replacement of the force commander.
It also criticised the mission's dismissal of urgent requests for help during the attack, with a UN compound less than two kilometres away.
The assault on the Hotel Terrain was part of a wave of violence between troops supporting South Sudan's President Salva Kiir and soldiers loyal to his political rival, Riek Machar.
It was the worst fighting in the country since the end of a two-year civil war in 2015.
Retired Major General Patrick Cammaert, who led the inquiry, says the incident has damaged the image of the UN.
"I think the reputation of the UN has suffered a lot. The fact that this happened and there's such an outcry of why didn't they do anything, why are they all inward-looking, why are they not coming out, why are they not coming out during the night, why were they not protecting the warehouse of the World Food Program, and why were they not pushing to see if their freedom of movement was tested and challenged. That erodes the confidence and the trust in the UN and the UN peacekeepers."
Peacekeepers have been present in South Sudan since 2011, when the country declared independence.
The UN Security Council recently approved the deployment of a further 4,000 peacekeepers, to join the 12,000-strong UNMISS mission.
Evan Cinq-Mars, from the Centre for Civilians in Conflict, has told Al Jazeera there is still little the UN can do to punish wayward members.
"Peacekeepers are operating in very challenging environments but there are some serious, serious concerns with UN peacekeeping operations and the ability of UN peacekeepers to protect civilians, certainly. That was evidenced in South Sudan, definitely. I think that there were some important steps taken in terms of shaking up the leadership of the mission in South Sudan. This is contingent upon national contingents holding their own troops accountable, and this is an important step that national troop-contributing countries need to take in recognising that underperforming, in terms of protecting civilians, reflects poorly on them, it also reflects poorly on the UN as a whole."
