South Sudan ceasefire possible

A mother displaced by recent fighting in South Sudan rests on top of her belongings inside a makeshift shelter at the United Nations Mission in Sudan on Monday, December 23. Clashes between rival groups of soldiers in the capital of Juba a week ago have spread across the country.

Families seek refuge in a camp warehouse inside the United Nations Mission in Sudan facility in Jabel, on December 23. President Salva Kiir, from South Sudan's Dinka ethnic group, has accused former Vice President Riek Machar, a Nuer whom he dismissed in July, of trying to launch a coup. Machar dismissed the charge but has since said he is commanding troops fighting the government.

People gather to receive emergency dry food rations distributed by the World Food Program at a makeshift camp on December 23.

On Sunday, December 22, the United Nations relocates noncritical staff from Juba to Entebbe, Uganda. Civilian helicopters evacuated U.S. citizens from the violent South Sudan city of Bor, capital of Jonglei state, which has had bouts of heavy machine gun fire. Some 3,000 citizens from Canada, Britain and Kenya remain trapped there, a top U.N. official said Monday.

A South Sudanese girl puts her family's laundry out to dry on a barbed wire fence at a makeshift U.N. camp in Juba on December 22.

The World Food Program distributes food for displaced people at a U.N. compound in Bentiu, the capital of the oil-producing Unity state, on December 22.

South Sudanese women carry water in a U.N. camp in Juba on December 22.

People taking refuge on December 22 near a camp of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Juba.

South Sudanese civilians fleeing an outbreak of intense fighting take shelter at a U.N. mission on Tuesday, December 17.

South Sudanese civilians seek shade at the base on December 17.

Up to 40,000 civilians have taken refuge in U.N. bases in the country, the world body says. These civilians were photographed on December 17 at one of the bases.

A young child takes shelter at a U.N. base on December 17. An estimated 62,000 people have been displaced.

Escaping violence in South Sudan

Escaping violence in South Sudan

Escaping violence in South Sudan

Escaping violence in South Sudan

Escaping violence in South Sudan

Escaping violence in South Sudan

Escaping violence in South Sudan

Escaping violence in South Sudan

Escaping violence in South Sudan

Escaping violence in South Sudan

Escaping violence in South Sudan

Escaping violence in South Sudan