An international ceasefire monitor says parties to South Sudan’s faltering peace agreement have recruited new fighters and abducted children to participate in a conflict that observers have warned could widen again into civil war.
Tuesday’s statement in the capital, Juba, said South Sudan’s military in June opened a recruitment drive for 4,000 forces for peacekeeping and other purposes and that it opened a new training center in August.
The ceasefire monitoring body, the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, also said the body had received reports that all sides in the conflict have abducted or mobilized children to participate, and that combatants have engaged in sexual violence.
The reports, also shared with the UN Security Council, are likely to fuel concern that South Sudan’s government and opposition groups are preparing for a further escalation.
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