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JUBA. — War in South Sudan is worsening despite a faltering peace deal, with thousands of women and girls raped, killed or abducted in recent months, a coalition of aid agencies said yesterday.
“The situation for civilians is desperate and getting worse as fighting persists,” said the NGO Forum, an alliance of over 300 South Sudanese and international aid agencies.
The army and rebels have repeatedly traded blame, accusing each other of breaking an internationally-brokered August 26 ceasefire, the eighth such agreement aimed at ending the 22-month long war.
Both sides are accused of having perpetrated ethnic massacres, recruited and killed children and carried out widespread rape, torture and forced displacement of populations to “cleanse” areas of their opponents.
Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, the country’s economy destroyed and several regions pushed to the brink of famine. Over 30 aid workers have been killed.
The coalition of non-governmental organisations, who say they provide up to 90 percent of aid on the ground, warned of a “continued deterioration in the humanitarian situation”, with fighting spreading to Western Equatoria state in the south of the country, which has previously been mainly peaceful. — AFP.
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