Südsudan

The South Sudanese peace partners agreed to establish 25 cantonment sites for the opposition groups in line with the implementation of the security arrangements, a milestone of the revitalized peace agreement.

The South Sudan peace monitoring agency has expressed concern over the military build-up in Yei River State in Central Equatoria. The Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC), has disclosed that it has received several credible reports of military deployment to Yei by both the government and rebels under the command of Gen Thomas Cirillo. Gen Cirillo is the leader of the National Salvation Front (NAS), which refused to sign the September peace deal.

Embattled Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is receiving words of support from some unlikely places as he faces deadly protests calling for him to step down.

South Sudan has begun to repair and pump oil from wells damaged in the civil war and will ramp up production by the end of the year, the oil minister told Reuters ahead of a Monday trip to the oil fields.

Women and girls bear an additional burden in any war, as the threat of sexual violence or abuse combines with the standard risks of conflict. The conflict in South Sudan is no different. Since it began in December 2013, both sides have been accused of using rape and sexual assault as a “weapon of war”. UN envoy Pramila Patten told the Security Council last month that the practice “escalated dramatically” in 2018.

The African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) backed the deployment of an IGAD force within the UN Mission in South Sudan despite the growing UN reservations over the force and its role in the peace process.