US, UK, Norway ‘deeply concerned’ at rising violence across South Sudan

JOHANNESBURG, June 10 (ANA) – The United States, United Kingdom and Norway have voiced concern at rising violence in South Sudan, saying it puts in jeopardy any gains that have been made in resolving its longstanding internal conflict.

The country’s warring parties formed a transitional government of national unity in February in a major step forward in South Sudan’s peace process after years of a civil war which broke out in 2013, less than two years after it declared independence from Sudan.

In a statement dated Tuesday, the three Western countries said the increased violence was causing immense suffering for South Sudan’s people and had implications for the region, adding on to the pressure from the Covid-19 pandemic which the African state is grappling with alongside the rest of the world.

They said in South Sudan’s Jonglei state, the vacuum created by a lack of governance had exacerbated cycles of intercommunal violence.  In Central Equatoria, a ceasefire signed in January had broken down, leading to heavy fighting between forces in recent weeks, with villages destroyed and their communities displaced.

“Shocking reports of sexual violence against women and girls continue,” the troika said. “We are concerned with the impact of the fighting on humanitarian access.”

The troika urged South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and his vice presidents, supported by regional trade bloc the Intergovernmental Authority on Development and the guarantors of the peace agreement, to agree on the selection of governors “and to move forward to govern together for the benefit of the people of South Sudan”.

“Any further delay creates uncertainty that undermines the transition process, slows the fight against Covid-19, and holds back efforts to end the violence that now threatens the hard-won peace,” they said.

On Tuesday, international rights group Human Rights Watch said security forces had killed at least five people in South Sudan’s capital Juba during a violent confrontation over a land dispute and subsequent peaceful protests.

It urged authorities to ensure that all the officers involved were brought to justice “through prompt, effective investigations and prosecutions”.

– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa