South Sudan

Hunger in South Sudan’s northeast has reached a critical tipping point, with nearly 7.7 million people facing severe food insecurity as conflict escalates, the UN’s emergency food relief agency warned on Wednesday.

South Sudan is likely to return to full-blown civil war unless the international community takes a radical approach to stabilise the country and re-engage in the peace process.

[...] During the reporting period, political dynamics were marked by rising tensions between the Parties to the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, and ongoing regional and international efforts to mediate and keep the peace process on track.

[...] To enhance mediation efforts and support the full implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), the Chairperson is dispatching a high-level delegation of the AU Panel of the Wise to Juba to engage with all the stakeholders to de-escalate tensions and promote dialogue.

The Ugandan army on Friday denied using “chemical or barrel weapons” in South Sudan, days after the UN said a highly flammable liquid was used in aerial strikes in the country. Uganda deployed its special forces to South Sudan in March to support.

Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday of a rapidly deteriorating crisis in South Sudan, calling for urgent dialogue, the immediate release of detained officials and renewed commitment to the 2018 peace agreement. 

The detention of South Sudan's First Vice President Riek Machar under house arrest has effectively collapsed the peace deal that ended the 2013-2018 civil war, his party said on Thursday. The U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan meanwhile called for restraint, saying the country stood on the brink of relapsing into widespread conflict.

Barrel bombs believed to contain a highly flammable liquid have been used in airstrikes in South Sudan as escalating violence pushes the world's newest country to the brink of another civil war, the UN has said. The comments by Nicholas Haysom, head of the UN mission in South Sudan, follow recent fighting between the army and a rebel militia, known as the White Army, at a military base in the northern town of Nasir in oil-rich Upper Nile State. 

The situation in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state could escalate into war if parties do not take practical measures to embrace dialogue and consensus, a UN official said.

South Sudan's security situation is volatile, as civil war-time leadership divisions deepen. The UN has expressed concern, regional mediators are scrambling and a US evacuation is underway.