South Sudan

Representatives of South Sudan’s parties to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement have agreed to end the prolonged stalemate on formation of states governments and reconstitution of the National Legislative Assembly. A meeting convened by President Salva Kiir on Wednesday in Juba agreed to a complete formation of unity government.

Amnesty International is urging the United Nations Security Council to renew its arms embargo on South Sudan, saying violence, atrocities and war crimes against civilians have quadrupled this year despite a cease-fire and formation of a unity government in February. 

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has hailed South Sudan government for recently adopting inclusive policies to enable the safe return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees living in the neighboring countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted peace processes in Africa. In South Sudan, COVID-19 has not only presented a risk to the health and socio-economic circumstances of the citizenry but has also put a strain on the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS).

[…] Mr. Shearer also announced that, as of Monday, the protection of civilian (POC) sites in capital Juba have been re-designated as camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs).  … “The Government now has sovereign responsibility for the sites as it does with many other IDP camps across the country.” 

The United Nations said Tuesday that a second aid worker had been murdered in South Sudan this week in a vast and isolated region scarred by armed violence and lawlessness. The fatal shooting on October 30 brings the number of aid personnel killed this year in South Sudan to nine, the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA said, triple the death toll of 2019.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said it evacuated some 32 humanitarian workers following threats and violent attacks by youth groups in Renk town of Upper Nile State.

Starvation is being intentionally used as a war tactic in South Sudan’s brutal conflict, an UN-backed human rights panel said on Tuesday, releasing its latest report on the country.

The United Nations special envoy to South Sudan on Tuesday said almost no progress has been made in unifying the country’s warring forces under one army, as promised under a hard-fought peace deal.

While some South Sudanese experts recommend the government adopt a new economic system used by developing states to cut off black market currency exchange and stabilize skyrocketing prices, a new U.N. panel report says the real problem in South Sudan is deeply entrenched government corruption.