Tag: South Sudan

S.Sudan’s leaders force famine on their people: analysts

by Tristan MCCONNELL Agence France-Presse NAIROBI, Kenya  – South Sudan’s famine is a disaster created by its leaders, say analysts who argue that while food may save some lives now it is only peace that can bring lasting relief. But peace is as distant as ever with an international community that appears paralysed, while the men ruling over the country’s misery are unmoved by pleas for them to lay down their weapons. There is no […]

UN needs $4.4 billion for famine relief in four countries

by Carole LANDRY Agence France Presse UNITED NATION, United States (AFP) — UN aid agencies need $4.4 billion in emergency funding to address famine in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday. More than 20 million people face starvation in the four countries and action is needed now to avert a humanitarian disaster, Guterres told a news conference at UN headquarters. “We need $4.4 billion by the end of […]

S. Sudan president vows aid access to famine-hit areas

JUBA, South Sudan (AFP) – South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir vowed Tuesday that government would ensure aid could reach areas hit by famine after three years of war that has restricted access for humanitarian workers. The world’s youngest nation on Monday declared famine in parts of the northern Greater Unity state where 100,000 people were facing starvation and another one million were on the brink of famine. A total of nearly five million are going […]

1.4 million children face famine in four countries: UNICEF

UNITED NATION, UNITED States (AFP) — Almost 1.4 million children suffering from severe malnutrition could die this year from famine in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, the UN children’s agency said Monday. In Yemen, where war has been raging for nearly two years, 462,000 children are suffering from acute malnutrition while 450,000 children are severely malnourished in northeast Nigeria. Fews Net, the famine early warning system, said some remote areas of Nigeria’s Borno state […]

UN rights team says ‘ethnic cleansing’ under way in S.Sudan

JUBA, South Sudan (AFP) – UN human rights experts on Thursday said “ethnic cleansing” was under way in South Sudan after visiting the country where violence has soared since a peace deal collapsed in July. “There is already a steady process of ethnic cleansing underway in several areas of South Sudan using starvation, gang rape and the burning of villages; everywhere we went across this country we heard villagers saying they are ready to shed […]

International community slams fresh call for war in S.Sudan

NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) – The international community on Thursday hit out at a call from South Sudan’s rebel leader Riek Machar for renewed war with the government, raising concerns about heavy fighting in recent weeks. Machar, the former vice president, last month urged “a popular armed resistance” against his rival Salva Kiir’s government, in a statement from Khartoum where he is in exile. In a  joint statement, the European Union, Norway, the United States and […]

South Sudan: Hundreds of children recruited into armed groups, reports UNICEF

  (UNITED NATIONS)   Reporting that 650 children have been recruited into armed groups in South Sudan since January, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called today for an immediate end to recruitment and an unconditional release of all children by armed actors. “The dream we all shared for the children of this young country has become a nightmare,” said Justin Forsyth, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director said today in a news release issued by the agency. “At […]

South Sudan army slams UN report alleging killings, rape

NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) – South Sudan’s army on Friday described a UN report alleging its troops carried out ethnically targeted killings and rapes as “baseless”, saying not one victim had lodged a complaint. The UN’s top human rights official on Thursday blamed Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) troops loyal to President Salva Kiir for deadly attacks on the Nuer people during a bout of unrest in the capital in early July. Kiir is from the Dinka […]

South Sudan minister resigns, calls for regime change

ADDIS ADABA Ethiopia (AFP) – A South Sudanese minister and opposition figure resigned on Monday saying a peace deal designed to heal the troubled young nation was dead, while calling for President Salva Kiir’s unity government to leave power. Lam Akol was agriculture minister in Kiir’s administration and also announced he was quitting as longtime leader of the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) party. “There is no more peace agreement to implement in […]

Ugandan army enters S.Sudan to evacuate citzens

JUBA, South Sudan (AFP) by Peter MARTELL with Michael O’HAGAN in Nimule, Uganda A heavily-armed Ugandan military convoy crossed into South Sudan on Thursday to evacuate citizens trapped in the capital Juba as fears persist that days of fierce fighting might reignite despite a ceasefire. The United Nations has warned of tension and the possibility of fresh fighting in Juba, where a ceasefire has held since late Monday. President Salva Kiir on Thursday called on […]

Fierce fighting in Juba despite appeals for calm

JUBA, South Sudan (AFP) – Heavy fighting resumed in South Sudan’s capital Juba on Monday despite international calls for calm after deadly gun battles sent thousands of people fleeing and threatened the young nation’s shaky peace. The United Nations expressed deep alarm over the surge in violence, which has left several hundred people dead and risks plunging the country into a new civil war. Intense battles resumed Monday with tanks and helicopter gunships deployed and […]

UN Security Council meets on South Sudan fighting

by André VIOLLAZ JUBA, South Sudan (AFP) — The UN Security Council pressed South Sudan’s neighbors Sunday to help end renewed fighting in the capital, asking for additional peacekeepers. In a unanimous declaration, the council’s 15 member countries also demanded that President Salva Kiir and his Vice President Riek Machar “do their utmost to control their respective forces, urgently end the fighting and prevent the spread of violence.” It called for the two rivals to […]