Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:50pm GMT
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS Nov 23 (Reuters) - South Sudan is at risk of sinking into a cycle of revenge killings on a large scale, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said as he recommended an extra 1,100 peacekeepers be deployed to the world's youngest nation.
In a Nov. 20 report to the U.N. Security Council on the world body's peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, seen by Reuters on Monday, Ban questioned the commitment by the warring parties to a peace deal signed in August.
"Breaches of the ceasefire agreement and the failure of the parties to meet the initial deadlines articulated for the preparatory phase of the peace agreement's implementation, call into question their commitment to the peace process," Ban wrote.
He said deep divisions among communities in South Sudan, which gained its independence from Sudan in 2011, combined with the high levels of brutality throughout the violent conflict, "could lead to a pattern of revenge killings."
"Retribution along these lines would likely become highly politicized, lead to large scale loss of life and contribute to a continuing cycle of violence," Ban said. "There is a risk that organized forces of the parties could become involved."
South Sudan descended into civil war in December 2013 when a row between President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy Riek Machar ended with fighting that often ran along ethnic fault lines between Kiir's Dinka and Machar's Nuer people.
Thousands have been killed and millions displaced in the conflict.
Under pressure from its neighbors and a threat of U.N. sanctions, Machar signed a peace deal on Aug. 17 and Kiir followed suit 10 days later, although both sides were quick to accuse each other of further attacks.
Ban said both parties had engaged in "deliberate and targeted killing of civilians and extrajudicial and other unlawful killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, enforced disappearances, ill-treatment and torture."
"Civilians have been targeted based on ethnicity," he said.
Some 12,500 U.N. peacekeepers are still sheltering nearly 180,000 people at six camps throughout South Sudan, but Ban said overcrowding and ethnic tensions had sparked nearly 3,000 incidents including killings, sexual violence and criminality.
He recommended the Security Council authorize the deployment of a further 500 troops and 600 police to improve security in the camps and allow peacekeepers to protect civilians elsewhere.
Ban also said surveillance drones should be deployed. However, Kiir has so far blocked drones.
The Security Council is due to renew the mission's mandate by Dec. 15. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Richard Chang)
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Surge in robberies and violence threaten aid to crisis-hit South Sudan - U.N.
By Katy Migiro
NAIROBI, Nov 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Aid workers in South Sudan have been hit by a surge in violent armed robberies, the United Nations said on Monday, condemning the latest attack in which staff of a local charity, Nile Hope, were held at gunpoint as equipment was stolen.
Humanitarian agencies reported 32 attempted or successful robberies and looting incidents in October, the U.N. said in a statement, including 15 in the capital, Juba.
"Violence and crime against humanitarian organisations in South Sudan are jeopardising the ability of aid workers to provide assistance at a time when humanitarian needs are greater than ever," the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, Eugene Owusu, said in the statement.
"This is unacceptable and must stop."
A man working for Action Against Hunger was killed during a robbery of the charity's compound in September. He was the 34th aid worker killed in South Sudan since conflict erupted there in December 2013, according to U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The world's youngest country descended into civil war when a row between President Salva Kiir and former government deputy Riek Machar escalated into fighting often running along ethnic fault lines between Kiir's Dinka and Machar's Nuer people.
Kiir and Machar, facing international pressure and the threat of sanctions, signed a peace deal in August but have repeatedly accused each other of ceasefire violations.
Deteriorating security in Juba is hampering aid workers efforts to assist South Sudan, the U.N. said.
Malnutrition is at catastrophic levels, it says, with a risk of famine in some places towards the end of the year.
The civil war has displaced more than 2.2 million people, mostly in the northern oil-producing Unity, Jonglei and Upper Nile states, where hunger is most acute.
Staff of Nile Hope, a partner to several U.N. agencies, told the Sudan Tribune that six armed men entered their offices on Friday afternoon and forced staff into the toilet while they stole money, laptops and phones. (Reporting by Katy Migiro; Editing by Ros Russell)
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