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.
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Hours after the declaration by Kiir, gunfire could still be heard, although it was unclear if was fighting or troops firing in celebration.
South Sudan’s health ministry said 272 people were killed Friday, including 33 civilians, Reuters reported.
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir on Monday evening ordered a ceasefire after days of heavy fighting between his government troops and forces loyal to Vice President Riek Machar in the capital Juba.
Last August, after intense pressure from the worldwide community, Kiir and Machar signed a peace deal that called for a two-year transitional government of ministers and parliamentarians from the two sides before new elections.
Since then, hundreds of people are believed to have been killed and thousands displaced by the renewed violence.
Over the last two days, artillery shells have landed in civilian neighbourhoods near Vice-President Riek Machar’s base in Jebel neighbourhood, injuring civilians and damaging their homes. The following day, fighting at the presidential compound killed at least 115 people, a spokesman for Machar’s fighters, William Gatjiath Deng, said by phone.
Two government helicopters have been bombing areas near the United Nations base while ground forces have shelled the camp which houses tens of thousands of displaced civilians, according to a source within the United Nations compound, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.
At least two United Nations peacekeepers have been killed, the AP writes, and aid workers are having difficulty supplying water to the approximately 30,000 people inside the camps.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “Yet again, the leaders of South Sudan have failed their people”.
Peacekeepers in Juba are outgunned and out numbered by the warring parties.
The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) on Monday deplored the continued fighting in Juba and severe conditions it had imposed on civilians.
This is a fast-evolving situation.
Military trucks are driving up and down Juba’s roads with megaphones ordering soldiers back to barracks. “It makes a mockery of commitments to peace”.
The “recent fighting has had a devastating impact on the civilian population”, the agency said in a statement, adding that heavy rains in parts of Juba had worsened the situation.
Kiir, in a decree issued Monday, directed all commanders deployed at checkpoints in Juba to reduce and limit checkpoints to only essential and important installations and institutions.
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South Sudan has canceled this year’s independence celebrations due to the economic crunch resulting from more than two years of civil conflict.
