South Sudan has seen an “alarming regression” as clashes in recent weeks in the country’s northeast threaten to undo years of progress towards peace, the United Nations commission on human rights for the country has warned.
The statement from Yasmin Sooka, chairperson of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, comes amid a spate of violence between security forces overseen by President Salva Kiir and an armed group his government has alleged is linked to First Vice President Riek Machar.
The situation has put in peril the pair’s fragile power-sharing agreement reached in 2018 to end five years of civil war. It has also sparked fears of war in the country’s Upper Nile state.
“We are witnessing an alarming regression that could erase years of hard-won progress,” Sooka said.
“Rather than fueling division and conflict, leaders must urgently refocus on the peace process, uphold the human rights of South Sudanese citizens, and ensure a smooth transition to democracy,” Sooka said.
Read more here.
