World
The United Nations Security Council condemned the recent fighting in South Sudan and called on the warring sides to take decisive action to regain control of the security situation. More than 300 people have been killed, including many civilians, since clashes broke out late on Thursday between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and those backing Vice-President Riek Machar. Renewed violence struck the capital, Juba, with the president’s troops attacking Machar’s residence on Sunday.
The unrest has raised the fears that the five-year-old country may “slide back into full-blown” civil war, writes Reuters. The U.S. State Department expressed serious concern over “the lack of command and control over the troops” in South Sudan and ordered the departure of non-emergency personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Juba.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced such “senseless violence,” urging Kiir and Machar to “de-escalate the hostilities immediately,” notes The Guardian. He added that the latest outbreak of violence could potentially reverse the progress in peace process in a turbulent South Sudan.
South Sudan descended into a civil conflict in 2013 after Kiir sacked Machar, accusing him of planning a coup, reports the BBC. Two years later, both the leaders struck a peace deal and joined a new unity government, a move that marked “the end of the war” in the country.
