The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has issued a stark warning about South Sudan’s deteriorating situation, announcing that the fragile peace accord of the country is in tatters. He appealed to the leaders to drop violence and put the welfare of people first.
“Let’s not beat around the bush What we’re witnessing is grimly evocative of the 2013 and 2016 civil wars, which resulted in 400,000 deaths,” Guterres said to the reporters on Friday.
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The tensions have risen after First Vice President Riek Machar was put under house arrest in the capital city of Juba on Wednesday. This has effectively made the 2018 peace accord, which brought an end to South Sudan’s five-year civil war and formed a tenuous power-sharing government between Machar and President Salva Kiir, a nullity.
The crisis worsened on Friday when the nation’s information minister accused Machar of scheming an armed uprising against the government. Guterres said the situation constituted a “perfect storm” of security threats, political instability, humanitarian disaster, displacement, and economic collapse.
“All the black clouds have gathered above the population of the world’s newest and one of poorest nation,” he told news agencies, spotlighting growing troubles. He warned, too, that targeting along ethnic and political lines by the security services and unchecked false propaganda on social media might trigger greater unrest.
The UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is doing everything it can to de-escalate tensions, working with all the parties and increasing measures to keep civilians safe. But as the fighting has intensified and the peace deal was faltering, there is increasing anxiety that South Sudan may slip back into open war.
