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JUBA/UNITED NATIONS. — African diplomats made a push for peace in South Sudan yesterday as bitter fighting spread across the world’s youngest nation, with US President Barack Obama warning the oil-rich state was on the brink of civil war.
The United Nations Security Council readied emergency consultations on the crisis amid fears that fighting between rival army factions, which has already claimed hundreds of lives and sent tens of thousands seeking UN protection, could escalate.
“Recent fighting threatens to plunge South Sudan back into the dark days of its past,” Obama said. “South Sudan stands at the precipice.”
Recalling the promise and hopes that accompanied South Sudan’s independence in July 2011, Obama warned “that future is at risk.”
Over two million people died in the brutal 1983-2005 civil war, which ended in a peace deal that paved the way for the impoverished South’s independence two years ago.
Bitter power struggles and years of rivalry exacerbated by ethnic divisions erupted into violence late on Sunday, as rival factions within the army loyal to President Salva Kiir or former vice president Riek Machar clashed in the capital Juba.
So far close to 500 dead — most of them civilians — are reported in Juba alone, but while the capital is now reported to be calm, fighting has continued elsewhere.
The UN said incidents of fighting or civil unrest had now been reported from 14 separate areas — including in the powder-keg eastern state of Jonglei — and that 34 000 civilians were seeking protection in or around UN bases.
UN helicopters flew yesterday to rescue staff a day after their compound in the remote Akobo was stormed by attackers, who killed two Indian peacekeepers and wounded one, the UN said, clarifying initial reports all three had died.
“We can confirm that two UNMISS Indian battalion troops were killed in action,” said a statement by the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) on the attack at Akobo in Jonglei state.
China offered condolences over Indian peacekeepers’ death and strongly condemned the violent attack on the United Nations mission in the country, a Chinese spokeswoman said yesterday.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry warned its citizens against travelling to South Sudan and asked non-essential personnel to leave South Sudan as soon as possible. It also advised staff in South Sudan to avoid outdoor activities and maintain emergency contact with the embassy.” Billions of petro-dollars . . . have poured into the country, much of which were used to purchase sophisticated weaponry,” they added in an editorial on the Daily Beast.
India’s UN envoy Asoke Mukerji said the peacekeepers were “targeted and killed” during Thursday’s attack by ethnic Nuer youths on the UN base, which is situated in an area awash with guns and home to several large rebel armies.
The fate of more than 30 ethnic Dinka civilians sheltering there is not known.” — AFP-Xinhua.
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