South Sudan

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.

Thousands of people are fleeing ongoing inter-communal clashes in South Sudan’s Jonglei State and the newly created Greater Pibor Administrative Area – the latest challenge to efforts to cement peace following last month’s formation of a unity government.

Following the unveiling of a new unity cabinet in South Sudan on Thursday, the UN Secretary-General has commended the “spirit of compromise and collaboration” shown by President Salva Kiir and rival-turned-top deputy, Riek Machar, on what has been a rocky road towards forging lasting peace.

The Security Council decided to renew the mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) today amid encouraging developments in that country’s peace process, including the beginning of efforts to form the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity. Unanimously adopting resolution 2514 (2020) under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, the Council also decided to maintain the Mission’s overall force levels at a ceiling of 17,000 troops, including the Regional Protection Force, and 2,101 police officers. The renewed mandate will run until 15 March 2021.

United Nations investigators accuse South Sudanese leaders of widespread corruption and of trampling on the rights and fundamental freedoms of their people. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan presented its latest report to the U.N. Human Rights Council Monday.

The parties to the South Sudan Peace agreement on Thursday agreed on Cabinet portfolio balance, and will now be expected to name ministers and their deputies as the government gets down to work.

Positive developments in South Sudan have “moved the country further along the road to sustainable peace”, the top UN official there told Security Council members on Wednesday.

The formation of the transitional government in South Sudan could be unduly delayed following disagreements over portfolio balance between President Salva Kiir and first Vice President Riek Machar.