South Sudan

The South Sudanese Government has confirmed that two cases of COVID-19 have been identified inside a Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in the capital, Juba, although the world’s youngest nation has been relatively unscathed by the pandemic, with 74 cases recorded so far.

South Sudan’s new violence this week could threaten a precarious peace agreement between the government and rebel groups that have yet to sign on a unity deal.

The South Sudan arms embargo ends on May 31 but investigations on the ongoing disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation reveal that it has been violated by arms companies since it was imposed in July 2018.

New fighting in South Sudan's Central Equatoria state this week is putting a strain on the country's fragile peace agreements. A spokesman for the rebel National Salvation Front (NAS) said a joint force composed of soldiers from the army and the former rebel SPLM-IO attacked NAS positions in Central Equatoria state beginning on Sunday.

Political analysts in South Sudan are warning that the ongoing political and military defections by parties that constitute the Revitalised Unity Government could hurt the peace agreement implementation process.

More members of South Sudan’s main opposition party have defected to the ruling party led by President Salva Kiir, with one former member accusing First Vice President Riek Machar of running the opposition like a family dynasty.

South Sudan reported its first four cases of coronavirus this week – all UN staff members – and the news quickly triggered a xenophobic backlash that has amped up tensions and restricted the movement of aid agencies.

South Sudan confirmed its first COVID-19 case Sunday, a 29-year old woman who entered the country on Feb. 28 from the Netherlands via Addis Ababa. The U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said the individual is a U.N. staff member who has been in the country for nearly five weeks.

Authorities in South Sudan must address intercommunal violence if the nation is to achieve lasting peace, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday, in response to a recent escalation in fighting in the east and central parts of the country. The increased number and range of weapons used by rival clans, as well as the “apparent failure” by the authorities to respond, has contributed to clashes which have left hundreds dead and thousands displaced, while women and children have been subjected to sexual violence.

Women who had been displaced by fighting in South Sudan are sowing seeds of peace, with support from the UN mission in the country, UNMISS.