UN: South Sudan peace process at risk

The United Nations on Wednesday warned South Sudan's leaders that the young nation's fragile peace process was under serious threat due to slow progress, calling for "fresh urgency" to revive negotiations.

The world's newest nation suffered from chronic instability since independence in 2011, including a brutal five-year civil war between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar that cost almost 400,000 lives.

The 2018 agreement which ended the war was bedeviled by bickering between rival parties, and key provisions of the deal are yet to be implemented.

Nicholas Haysom, the UN's special envoy to South Sudan, said the process risked becoming nonviable if it failed to pick up the pace.

"The parties must inject fresh urgency into the process and demonstrate a sustained, collective political will to finalize critical areas of the agreement," he told a press briefing. 

"Put simply, there cannot continue to be a ‘business as usual’ approach."

Haysom also sounded an alarm on the country's severe flooding crisis, which affected over 800,000 people following six months of torrential rain.

"I can only describe the situation as dire. Flood waters are not receding and hundreds of thousands of people remain displaced and in desperate need of assistance," he said.

South Sudan^[1] struggled with war, famine ^[2]and chronic political and economic crisis since celebrating its hard-fought independence from Sudan in July 2011.

As discontent deepens, some citizens call for a peaceful public uprising to topple the current regime, saying they have "had enough."

At least 32 people were killed in the clashes, with Machar saying the squabbles were aimed at derailing the formation of a unified armed forces command, a key component of the peace deal and a potential safeguard against future conflict.

1. ^{^} https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/africa/1625760920-troubled-south-sudan-to-mark-10th-anniversary-without-fanfare (www.i24news.tv)
2. ^{^} https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/africa/138135-170220-south-sudan-suffering-man-made-famine (www.i24news.tv)