South Sudan at 'dangerous point' as killings surge, UN says
The Straits Times
GENEVA, Feb 27 - South Sudan is at a \"dangerous point\" as a surge in killings threatens a fragile peace deal, the U.N. human rights chief said on Friday, a day after Western powers accused groups linked to the military of carrying out a massacre. Read more at straitstimes.com.
GENEVA, Feb 27 - South Sudan is at a "dangerous point" as a surge in killings threatens a fragile peace deal, the U.N. human rights chief said on Friday, a day after Western powers accused groups linked to the military of carrying out a massacre.
At least 16 people were killed by "unruly elements from the South Sudan People's Defence Forces soldiers" in the eastern state of Jonglei on February 21, state information minister Nyamar Ngundeng said late on Thursday.
The government denied that soldiers had deliberately targeted any civilians, but acknowledged they may have been caught in crossfire in the strife-torn territory that borders Ethiopia.
A 2018 peace deal ended a five-year civil war that pitted forces loyal to President Salva Kiir against those of First Vice President Riek Machar and killed nearly 400,000 people in the world's newest country.
There have been repeated clashes over territory and other rivalries since then and the country was plunged deeper into political turmoil after Machar was suspended from his post last year and charged with 20 others of being involved in militia raids in the northeast. They deny the charges.
The killings of 189 civilians were documented in January, amid a 45% increase in rights violations and abuses from the previous month, the head of the U.N. human rights office, Volker Turk, said.
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