Building tension and violence threatens to unravel the peace deal that halted ethnic conflict in 2018.
South Sudan is on the brink of a renewed civil war as violence between rival factions escalates, the United Nations has warned.
The situation in the country is “dire” said Nicholas Haysom, head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), late on Monday, as tension between forces allied with President Salva Kiir and those of Vice President Riek Machar continues to build.
Efforts to negotiate a peace deal would only be possible if Kiir and Machar were able to “put the interests of their people ahead of their own,” the UN official noted, warning that disinformation and hate speech are stirring ethnic hatred and provoking increasing violence that has displaced tens of thousands.
South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, fell into a bloody civil war soon after gaining independence in 2011, as forces aligned with Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, fought those loyal to Machar, an ethnic Nuer.
The conflict killed more than 40,000 people before a 2018 peace deal saw the pair form a government of national unity. However, tension has flared once more.
A group of fighters known as the White Army, believed to be allied to Machar, overran a military base in Nasir County, the northeastern Upper Nile state, earlier in March.
In response, South Sudanese soldiers surrounded Machar’s home in the capital, Juba, and arrested several of his allies. Meanwhile, the military has also been also targeting communities across the Upper Nile with aerial strikes, Haysom said.
“These indiscriminate attacks on civilians are causing significant casualties and horrific injuries, especially burns,” the UN official reported, adding that an estimated 63,000 people have been displaced due to the fighting.
“Given this grim situation, we are left with no other conclusion but to assess that South Sudan is teetering on the edge of a relapse into civil war,” he said.
The UN official cautioned that Kiir and Machar have little trust that the other will abide by the terms of the peace deal.
An election, which was supposed to be held in 2023, was already postponed twice, and is now not scheduled until 2026.
“Rampant misinformation, disinformation and hate speech is also ratcheting up tensions and driving ethnic divisions, and fear,” Haysom concluded.
UNMISS is working to prevent a new civil war and is engaging in “intense shuttle diplomacy” with regional partners, including the African Union, he noted.