️ South Sudan is reeling from an escalating conflict between government-aligned forces and opposition groups, with observers warning it risks returning the country to a full-blown civil war.
️ Violent confrontations between the military loyal to President Salva Kiir and insurgents believed allied to suspended Vice-President Riek Machar have increased in recent weeks.
️ On Sunday, at least 169 people were killed after armed youth from Mayom county in the north raided a village in neighbouring Abiemnom county near the Sudan border.
️ Ruweng administrative area information minister James Monyluak Majok said the victims included women, children, and members of government security forces.
️ The UN mission in South Sudan said it was sheltering over 1,000 civilians in its base in the area and providing medical care to the injured, with about 23 people wounded in the attack.
️ Ruweng chief administrator Stephano Wieu de Mialek stated the assault was carried out by people linked to the White Army, a militia allied to Machar during the civil war.
️ The group denied responsibility for the attack and said it had no military presence in the area.
️ On Monday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported 26 of its staff were unaccounted for after recent violence in parts of Jonglei state.
️ The humanitarian organisation said on 3 February that its hospital in Lankien was hit in an airstrike by government forces and later burned and looted.
️ MSF said it had been forced to suspend medical activities in Lankien and Pieri due to insecurity.
️ Machar and Kiir were both members of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army that fought for independence from Sudan, gained in 2011, with Kiir becoming president and Machar first vice-president.
️ South Sudan descended into a bloody civil war in 2013 after Kiir fired Machar and later accused him of planning a coup.
️ Machar founded SPLM-IO, and both groups engaged in fighting that killed over 400,000 people and displaced nearly half the country’s population.
️ In 2018, Kiir and Machar signed a peace deal, ending the civil war and returning Machar to the vice-presidency, but implementation has barely progressed.
️ Last September, Machar was charged with murder, treason, and other serious crimes in connection with a White Army attack on a government garrison in Nasir county. Kiir then suspended him.
️ Machar is under house arrest, with his supporters calling the charges politically motivated, and observers warning his prosecution could jeopardise the peace agreement.
️ Machar’s prosecution and removal from office have inflamed tensions and coincided with a dramatic increase in violence, particularly in the opposition stronghold of Jonglei state.
️ Fighting between government and opposition forces has displaced an estimated 280,000 people over the past two months.
️ International Crisis Group senior analyst for South Sudan Daniel Akech said the government’s “targeting” of Machar has unified the opposition.
Source: www.theguardian.com