UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Ban Ki-moon yesterday called on South Sudan’s warring leaders to immediately stop fighting following the latest upsurge of violence in the oil-rich north.
The United States slammed fresh fighting in the country and denounced the “senseless man-made conflict” that has left thousands dead and forced millions to flee their homes.
The UN secretary general “strongly condemns” the resumption of fighting and urges the sides to “reach urgently” an agreement on a political transition, said a statement from his spokesman.
Ban “calls upon President Salva Kiir and Dr Riek Machar to cease immediately all military operations and reminds them of their obligation to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law,” he said.
The fresh fighting in the key northern oil town of Bentiu marked an end to a brief lull in hostilities in the country’s 10-month war and coincides with the end of the rainy season, which made many roads impassable.
Ban warned the sides of the “inviolability” of UN bases in South Sudan, where 100,000 civilians are sheltering, fearing they will be killed if they leave.
The United Nations has been working with regional leaders of the IGAD group to broker a peace deal and has threatened to impose sanctions on those who reject a settlement.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a sharply-worded statement that “The United States condemns in the strongest terms the latest attacks” by rebels in and around Bentiu.
“Despite the parties’ recent acceptance of collective responsibility for the crisis, these current attacks demonstrate that the SPLM/A-IO has yet to abandon violence to achieve its goals,” she said in a statement.
She was referring to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-In Opposition, which on Wednesday launched the first major attack on the town of Bentiu in months.
The attack coincided with the end of the rainy season, which had left roads impassable.
The humanitarian situation in the country remains dire, with 1.8 million people displaced including 450,000 to neighbouring countries.
The war in the world’s newest nation erupted in December, when President Salva Kiir ousted his vice president Riek Machar, accusing of him trying to organise a coup. Since then, rebels loyal to Machar have been fighting army forces.
AFP
