United Nations – South Sudan is staggering on the edge of the renewed civil war, the top of the UN official in the youngest nation in the world warned Monday, regretting the sudden postponement of the government of the last effort of peace.
Calling the situation that develops in the “serious” country, Nicholas Haysom said that international efforts to negotiate a peaceful solution can only succeed if President Salva Kiir and his rival turned into the president, Riek Machar, are willing to involve “and put the interests of their people ahead.”
There were great hope that Sudan from the south rich in oil won Independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long conflict. But the country slipped into a civil war in December 2013 in large part based on ethnic divisions when the forces loyal to Kiir, an ethnic dya, fought against the loyal to Machar, an ethnic nor.
More than 400,000 people were killed in the war, which ended with a 2018 peace agreement that brought together Kiir and Machar in a national unity government. According to the agreement, the elections were supposed to be held in February 2023, but they postponed until December 2024, and again until 2026.
The latest tensions come from the struggles in the north of the country between government troops and a rebel militia, Known as the White Army, which is believed widely allied with Machar.
Earl this month, a South Sudan general was between Several people killed when a United Nations helicopter In a mission of evacuating the government troops of the city of Nasir, the scene of the fight in the state of Alto Nilo, was criticized. Days before on March 4, the White Army invaded the military garnish in Nasir and government troops responded by surrounding Machar’s house In the capital, Juba, and arrested several of its key allies.
Haysom said that tensions and violence were increasing “particularly as we approach the elections already measured political competition, is exacerbated among the main players.”
He said that Kiir and Machar do not trust each other enough to show the necessary leadership to implement the 2018 Peace Agreement and move on to a future that would see a stable and democratic South Sudan.
“The discourse of misinformation and unbridled hate is also increasing tensions and promoting ethnic divisions, and fear,” said Haysom.
“Given this gloomy situation,” he said, “we have no other conclusion but to assess that South Sudan is staggering on the edge of a relapsed in the civil war. “
Haysom, who directs the peace maintenance mission of almost 18,000 members in South Sudan, warned that a relapse in the open war would lead to the same horrors that devastated the country, especially in 2013 and 2016.
He said that the UN takes very seriously the threat of “ethnic transformation” of the conflict.
To try to avoid a new civil war, the UN special envoy said the peace maintenance mission is being involved in an intense transforder diplomacy with international and regional partners, including the African Union.
Haysom said that the collective message of the regional and international community is that Kiir and Machar meet to resolve their differences, return to the 2018 Peace Agreement, adhere to the high fire, free the detained officials and resolve tensions “through dialogue instead of military confrontation.”
___
This story has corrected the war toll at 400,000, no 40,000.
