Explosions and heavy weapons gunfire are shaking South Sudan’s capital Juba Monday in the fifth day of clashes between government and opposition forces, raising the specter of a return to civil war.
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President Salva Kiir and his rival, Vice-President Riek Machar, announced a ceasefire which came into force on Monday at 15:00 GMT.
South Sudan’s civil war exposed deep ethnic fault lines in the country, pitting the Dinka supporters of Kiir against the Nuer followers of Machar.
The U.S. government has ordered the evacuation of non-essential personnel from the capital and demanded an immediate end to fighting.
The UN mission in South Sudan on Monday reported heavy fighting in Juba, including in areas close to its compounds in Jebel and Tomping.
The conflict killed thousands of people, forced more than 2.5 million people from their homes and left nearly half the population of 11 million people struggling to find food.
The UN mission said more than 7,000 people had sought protection in its compounds.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the killing of two Chinese peacekeepers in South Sudan. “Rarely has a country’s conduct squandered so much promise so quickly”.
Mr Machar made the call on Monday in an interview with South Sudan-based Eye Radio. United Nations peacekeepers in South Sudan are mandated to use lethal force to protect civilians under imminent threat in South Sudan.
She assured actor Akshay Kumar who tweeted her The government has in an advisory issued yesterday against traveling to South Sudan till the situation improves.
“[It’s a] few men with lots of power who are struggling to control the process where money comes from”, said David Majok, president of the South Sudanese Community Association in Ottawa.
Why has fighting resumed?
Juba was calm Tuesday after both Kiir and Machar ordered their forces to implement a cease-fire the previous night and began crisis talks, South Sudanese Ambassador to Kenya Chol Ajongo told reporters in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, where he gave the latest death toll. This quickly escalated into serious fighting from Friday onwards. But this was the first time it had flared in Juba since Machar finally returned in April after months of wrangling about terms of the pact. “The idea of stationing two armies, still hostile, within or on the edges of Juba, and entrusting the security of the city to them, has been shown to be profoundly flawed”. The recent civil war was partly fought along ethnic lines.
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There are concerns that what we are seeing is a repeat of what happened in December 2013. “There are growing fears that many more could die in another round of violence”, Ban said.
