South Sudanese Civil War

Sudan announced on Oct. 16 a "permanent ceasefire" in the country's war zones even as a key rebel group threatened to pull out of peace talks, accusing government forces of bombing its territory.    

South Sudan on Feb. 20 declared famine in some parts of the country, with more than three years of war leaving nearly five million hungry in what aid groups called a "man-made" tragedy.

Isaiah Chol Aruai, chairman of South Sudan's National Bureau of Statistics, said some parts of the northern Greater Unity region "are classified in famine, or... risk of famine."

This is not an article on South Sudan, which is just as well because the conflicts there are almost fractal in their complexity. The mini-war last weekend between the forces of President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar, which killed more than 270 people and saw tanks, artillery and helicopter gunships used in the capital, Juba, is part of a pattern that embraces the whole country.

Fighting at a United Nations compound sheltering people fleeing conflict in South Sudan has killed 18 people, including two Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) workers, the international medical aid group said. 

Thousands of South Sudanese have fled fighting and extreme hunger in recent weeks, the United Nations says in a report, as leaders struggle to honor a peace deal on the ground.

The United States on Aug. 19 circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution proposing an arms embargo and targeted sanctions against South Sudan if President Salva Kiir refuses to sign a peace accord ending the country's civil war.

The number of South Sudanese civilians sheltering in United Nations bases has risen above 150,000 for the first time in 18 months of civil war, the U.N. said on July 7.

A total of 153,769 civilians are now seeking safety behind the barbed wire of six peacekeeping bases of the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).  

South Sudan rebels opened fire on a UN peacekeeping base sheltering 30,000 civilians, killing one and wounding six in a possible war crime, the UN said late July 1.

The UN strongly criticized Southern Sudan president Salva Kiir Mayardit on obstructing the Organization’s attempts to protect innocent civilians, after he failed to give his permission to UN helicopters and drones. Mayardit has also stated that any UN member arrested while taking pictures will be considered a spy.

Gunmen in South Sudan have raped girls, seized boys to become soldiers and torched towns in some of the heaviest fighting seen in the 17-month-long civil war, the United Nations said May 12.