The UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) should also be strengthened with attack helicopters, Ban said.
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Intense battles were fought Monday with tanks and helicopter gunships deployed and artillery and mortar fire heard in parts of the city.
The UN Security Council on Sunday demanded Kiir and Machar rein in their forces and end the fighting. Just the speed and strength of fighting was really quite surprising, even to those who were very, very skeptical about the chances of South Sudan remaining entirely peaceful. Since then more than 100 people have been reported killed.
UNMISS took over from UNMIS – the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission in Sudan before the south declared independence after six years of autonomy and decades of civil war.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon responded to the latest situation, calling for a blanket arms embargo on South Sudan, sanctions on the leaders of both sides in the civil war, and “fortifying UNMISS”.
“A peace agreement was signed a year ago, but very clearly it is not holding itself together, as both factions of the army are still fighting”, he says.
Numerous thousands displaced by the renewed fighting in Juba are sheltering at the two U.N. bases, a World Food Program compound and other areas, said U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokeswoman Matilda Moyo. The two-year civil war started after clashes between rival soldiers in Juba and degenerated into nationwide conflict in which tens of thousands died.
“We urge an end to these hostilities and hope they (political leaders) will return back to taking up all the action points of the peace agreement”, UNMISS spokeswoman Shantal Persaud told Reuters by telephone. Civil war broke out in 2013 a few months after Kiir sacked Machar as his deputy.
Mr Kiir and Dr Machar have always been rivals, both in politics and on the battlefield. Machar finally returned to Juba in April, at the time seen as a step towards cementing peace.
South Sudanese policemen and soldiers stand guard along a street following renewed fighting in South Sudan’s capital Juba, July 10, 2016.
The Health Ministry said at least 271 people were killed in Friday’s clashes, while the number of casualties in fighting since Sunday is not yet known.
The mission was criticised in February after a camp housing some 50,000 displaced people in the northeastern oil hub of Malakal was attacked by men in uniform in which at least 25 civilians were killed and 120 were injured.
How many have been killed in fighting between the factions is unclear.
There was further exchange of heavy gunfire on Sunday morning with some artillery shells landing in United Nations compounds, and further reports of fighting on Monday 11 July.
Highlighting lawlessness on Juba’s streets, one resident said he saw police officers trying to loot a shop in his neighbourhood by shooting off the padlocks and firing in the air to scare away people, echoing similar reports by residents on Sunday.
An army spokesman said that any soldier found stealing civilian property or looting would be arrested, and shot at if they resisted.
Experts say the failure to swiftly implement important elements of the deal, such as integrating and demobilising their forces, has allowed tension to fester and risked igniting a new conflict.
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Through the civil war, however, world powers and regional states struggled to find leverage over the warring factions, despite USA and European sanctions on some military leaders and African threats of punitive actions.
