South Sudan is teetering on the edge of renewed civil war, UN envoy says

TANZANIA – South Sudan is teetering on the sting of renewed civil battle, the highest U.N. official on the planet’s youngest nation warned on Monday, lamenting the federal government’s sudden postponement of the newest peace effort.

Calling the state of affairs unfolding within the nation “dire,” Nicolas Haysom mentioned worldwide efforts to dealer a peaceable answer can solely succeed if President Salva Kiir and his rival-turned-vice president, Riek Machar, are keen to have interaction “and put the pursuits of their individuals forward of their very own.”

There have been excessive hopes when oil-rich South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a protracted battle. However the nation slid right into a civil battle in December 2013 largely based mostly on ethnic divisions when forces loyal to Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, battled these loyal to Machar, an ethnic Nuer.

Greater than 40,000 individuals have been killed within the battle, which ended with a 2018 peace settlement that introduced Kiir and Machar collectively in a authorities of nationwide unity. Below the settlement, elections have been alleged to be held in February 2023, however they have been postponed till December 2024 — and once more till 2026.

The most recent tensions stem from preventing within the nation’s north between government troops and a rebel militia, referred to as the White Military, which is extensively believed to be allied with Machar.

Earlier this month, a South Sudanese common was amongst several people killed when a United Nations helicopter on a mission to evacuate authorities troops from the city of Nasir, the scene of the preventing in Higher Nile state, got here underneath hearth. Days earlier on March 4, the White Military overran the navy garrison in Nasir and authorities troops responded by surrounding Machar’s home within the capital, Juba, and arresting a number of of his key allies.

Haysom mentioned tensions and violence have been escalating “notably as we develop nearer to elections and as political competitors will increase, sharpens between the principal gamers.”

He mentioned Kiir and Machar don’t belief one another sufficient to show the management wanted to implement the 2018 peace deal and transfer to a future that might see a secure and democratic South Sudan.

“Rampant misinformation, disinformation and hate speech can also be ratcheting up tensions and driving ethnic divisions, and concern,” Haysom mentioned.

“Given this grim state of affairs,” he mentioned, “we’re left with no different conclusion however to evaluate that South Sudan is teetering on the sting of a relapse into civil war.”

Haysom, who heads the almost 18,000-member U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, warned {that a} relapse into open battle would result in the identical horrors that ravaged the nation, particularly in 2013 and 2016.

He mentioned the U.N. takes the specter of the “ethnic transformation” of the battle very critically.

To attempt to stop a brand new civil battle, the U.N. particular envoy mentioned the peacekeeping mission is partaking in intense shuttle diplomacy with worldwide and regional companions, together with the African Union.

Haysom mentioned the collective message of the regional and worldwide group is for Kiir and Machar to fulfill to resolve their variations, return to the 2018 peace deal, adhere to the ceasefire, launch detained officers and resolve tensions “by dialogue somewhat than navy confrontation.”