South Sudan peering into abyss as it marks a year of conflict

A rebel fighter in South Sudan's Upper Nile state. Photo: Reuters

Addis Ababa: South Sudanese peace activists have warned that the East African country risks "falling into an abyss" as peace talks languish and fighting ramps up with the end of the rainy season.

Monday marks the first anniversary of the fledgling nation's civil war, a "shockingly brutal" conflict that has killed over 10,000 and displaced around 2 million people.

Decommissioned weapons at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan's base in Juba on December 9. Photo: AFP

Activist Edmund Yakani said: "It's hard to believe we're in an even darker place than before independence. It will take decades for South Sudan to recover and heal.

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"There is no peace through the barrel of a gun - the only solution to this crisis is a political one."

The war erupted on December 15, 2013, in the capital Juba, when a political power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his sacked vice-president Riek Machar turned violent.

Aircraft stairways provide shelter for refugees in a displaced persons camp in the South Sudanese capital Juba earlier this year. Photo: AFP

The first shots were allegedly fired at a presidential guard barracks after troops were ordered to disarm.

When ethnic Nuer soldiers noticed Dinka soldiers rearming, fistfighting turned into gun battles that quickly spread through the countryside.

Amnesty International reports that in the following two to three days, Mr Kiir's Dinka soldiers killed over 600 Nuer soldiers and civilians in door-to-door searches across the capital.

Mr Machar, an ethnic Nuer, fled to the bush to command the rebel army.

Having only celebrated independence from Sudan in July 2011 after decades of civil war, the country was thrust back into deadly internal conflict.

The United Nations' latest count puts the death toll at over 10,000. The UNHCR says approximately 1.44 million people are internally displaced and over 600,000 refugees have fled to neighbouring countries, the majority to Ethiopia.

Human Rights Watch and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have accused both sides of committing atrocities.

UNMISS has over 10,000 soldiers and 1000 police in the country but its mandate only covers civilian protection, human rights monitoring and supporting aid delivery.

UN camps dotted around the country shelter over 100,000 civilians.

Australia's only troops on the ground in Africa are in South Sudan as a contribution to the UN mission. The 23 deployed soldiers have non-combat roles.

Australian-South Sudanese community leader Emmanuel Kondok, whose mother lives in Juba, says tensions between local South Sudanese in Sydney have so far been avoided but he admits the community is distressed.

"This supposed tribal issue is not Dinka versus Nuer, it's fighting between power-hungry individuals," Mr Kondok says.

US President Barack Obama marked the conflict's anniversary by appealing for peace.

In a statement he called on the country's leaders "to end the cycle of violence, to set forth on a course of reform and reconciliation, and to hold to account those responsible for atrocities".

Peace talks between the warring leaders in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, have stalled over a power-sharing dispute between Mr Kiir and Mr Machar.

Last week Human Rights Watch called on both parties to commit to credible criminal investigations and for any peace agreement to exclude amnesty provisions for violations of international law.