South Sudan

The Civil Society Forum, a coalition of more than 100 organizations, on Monday marked the beginning of a 90-day countdown to the November deadline for the ruling party and opposition to form a government.

As of 01 August 2019, a total of number of civilians seeking safety in six Protection of Civilians (PoC) sites located on UNMISS bases is 185,009 … .

Sudanese and South Sudanese officials agreed late on Saturday with the leader of an alliance of armed factions operating along their joint border to extend a ceasefire and grant humanitarian access to some areas affected by conflict in Sudan.

A South Sudanese rebel group said it killed eight soldiers in the south of the nation on Tuesday, underlining the fragility of the oil-rich east African country after a partially implemented peace deal was signed last year.

South Sudanese opposition leader Riek Machar has agreed to a face-to-face meeting with President Salva Kiir, a step that could energize the lagging talks on a government for the civil war-wracked country.

An Africa Union taskforce on restoring peace in South Sudan says broad political engagement with President Salva Kiir and his former vice president Riek Machar is urgently needed to kick-start direct talks between the two leaders which is crucial in implementation of the revitalised agreement.

Eight years after independence, South Sudan still struggles to address media challenges. Independent journalists continue to fear for their freedom. Many choose to abandon either the country or their profession.

South Sudan’s army and several armed groups killed more than 100 civilians in a surge in violence in a southern region of the country after a peace deal was signed last year, a UN report said. The armed forces committed sexual violence including rape against around 100 women and girls in the same region, Central Equatoria, between September 2018 and April 2019, the report by the UN peacekeeping mission in the country found.

The UN said Wednesday that conflict had intensified in a region of South Sudan since a peace deal was signed, with hundreds of civilians raped or murdered by warring factions. The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said civilians had been "deliberately and brutally targeted" in Central Equatoria since the agreement was inked in September. … UNMISS said overall there had been a "significant decrease" in violence across the country since Kiir and Machar signed the deal.

The peace dividend from last year’s ceasefire in South Sudan is palpable, but political elites need to follow the example set by local communities on the ground if lasting progress is to be achieved, said the top UN official in the country on Tuesday.