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 on Saturday 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 fuelling 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.
The chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, also expressed “deep concern” on Saturday.
In a statement, he called for an “immediate end to all hostilities.”
The latest flare-up began when fighting erupted between the Sudanese armed forces and a group identified by Human Rights Watch (HRW) as an “armed youth militia” in Nasir County in the Upper Nile state in February.
While it remains unclear what started the fighting, HRW noted rumours of forced disarmament may have fueled the unrest. Several clashes have since taken place, with fighters using “heavy weaponry”, according to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). The agency has also reported fighting in Western Equatoria state in the southwestern part of the country.
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