UNITED NATIONS: Political deadlock in South Sudan is sharply escalating violence, putting the world’s newest nation on a “dangerous precipice,” the United Nations’ peacekeeping chief warned.
Jean-Pierre Lacroix urged the UN Security Council and the broader international community to ensure that South Sudan’s government and opposition return to dialogue and agree on a way forward.
At the moment, he warned, “Both sides claim to be acting in self-defense, while at the same time preparing for the possibility of large-scale hostilities.”
There were high hopes when oil-rich South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long conflict. But the country slid into a civil war in December 2013 largely based on ethnic divisions, when forces loyal to Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, battled those loyal to Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer.
More than 400,000 people were killed in the war, which ended with a 2018 peace agreement that brought the opponents together in a government of national unity with Kiir as president and Machar as vice president. But implementation has been slow, and a long-delayed presidential election is now scheduled for December.
