South Sudan at Risk of Returning to Full — Scale War, UN Warns. Geneva, Switzerland — The United Nations has issued a stark warning that South Sudan is on the brink of a return to full-scale war unless immediate action is taken to address escalating violence and human rights abuses.
The UN’s Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan (CHRSS) released a report on Friday, highlighting severe abuses against civilians, including killings, systematic sexual violence, arbitrary detention, and forced displacement.
According to the CHRSS report, the situation in South Sudan has deteriorated significantly, with the collapse of political safeguards and escalating atrocity risks.
The report attributed the instability to the actions of political and military elites, including the detention of opposition leaders, erosion of power sharing, and attempts to alter the terms of the 2018 peace agreement.
The CHRSS report specifically cited the arrest and prosecution of First Vice President Riek Machar as a key factor in undermining the peace agreement.
Machar’s suspension and subsequent legal action have triggered political uncertainty and armed clashes on a scale not seen for a decade.
The report also noted a dangerous shift in military tactics, including air strikes on civilian — populated areas.
The deployment of forces from neighboring Uganda, a guarantor of the 2018 peace agreement, has raised concerns about violations of a UN arms embargo.
Conflict — related sexual violence remains a persistent feature of the crisis, with widespread and systematic patterns of rape and other forms of sexual violence reported.
The CHRSS report highlighted the use of sexual violence as a strategic instrument of conflict, intended to terrorize civilian populations, drive displacement, and fracture social cohesion.
The commission urged the South Sudanese government to immediately halt violations by its forces, release arbitrarily detained individuals, and guarantee freedoms of expression, assembly, and association.
It also called for the establishment of transitional justice mechanisms to investigate and prosecute war crimes committed since 2013.
The report noted that the humanitarian situation in South Sudan has reached critical levels, with an estimated 400,000 people killed during the five years of civil war that ended in 2018.
The recent escalation in fighting has displaced an additional 280,000 people, and there are fears that the country is on the verge of returning to full-scale war.
Further details are expected as the situation continues to develop.
