UN: S. Sudan war reaches ‘catastrophic proportions’
UNITED NATIONS, United States: A confidential UN report is warning that the war in South Sudan has reached “catastrophic proportions for civilians” and the rise of militias risks spinning out of control, fueling fighting for years to come.
UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres said in the report obtained by AFP on Tuesday that civilians were fleeing villages and towns ‘in record numbers’ and that the danger of mass atrocities ‘is real’.
The stark warning followed a series of meetings that Guterres held with regional leaders and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir last month to push for an end to the three-year war.
“The security situation continues to deteriorate in parts of the country and the consequent impact of this ongoing conflict and violence, has reached catastrophic proportions for civilians,” Guterres wrote.
Heavy-handed military operations by all parties, but especially by government forces loyal to Kiir, were “daily destroying homes and livelihoods,” said the report sent to the Security Council on Monday.
“The rise of militias under the loose command of the SPLA or rebel commanders is spreading the fragmentation and dislocation of its territories, which risk, if this trend continues, remaining out of any government control for years to come,” said the report.
Guterres has been pushing regional leaders like Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, who is close to Kiir, to put pressure on the South Sudanese leader to rein in his forces and pull back from the brink.
The UN chief urged the Security Council to take action to revive political talks to convince rebels to stop fighting and give the government legitimacy to seek international financial aid.
The United Nations has 13,000 peacekeepers in South Sudan, but they have repeatedly been blocked by government soldiers and rebels from areas where fighting has flared. — AFP