He also called for military equipment “to fulfil our mandate to protect civilians” and said countries with troops in South Sudan should “stand their ground” rather than withdraw in the face of the violence.
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Some global organizations and businesses have started evacuating workers from South Sudan, a further blow to its severely weakened economy.
It warned that attacks on civilians and the United Nations could amount to war crimes.
“I am shocked and appalled by the heavy fighting that is now taking place in Juba”.
“There is random shooting and quite heavy mortar fire”. The opposition also has a base near Jebel and their leader’s home is there.
She said both South Sudanese leaders were responsible for implementing last year’s peace agreement, which included a permanent ceasefire and the deployment of forces away from Juba. Government forces have reportedly been ordered back to their barracks.
A similar skirmish in December 2013 sparked of the civil war that killed tens of thousands of people.
The bloodshed raises fears of a return to the two-year civil war between Mr Kiir’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and Mr Machar’s breakaway Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition. There are a few hundred Indians in South Sudan.
The conflict is split along ethnic lines, as well as political rivalries: Kiir is a Dinka, and Machar is a Nuer.
There has been no official death toll but at least five soldiers died on Thursday and a Health Ministry source said 272 people, including 33 civilians, were killed on Friday.
Government officials have repeatedly accused the civilians inside the United Nations bases of being rebels or rebel supporters.
At an emergency meeting on Sunday, the UN Security Council pressed neighbouring countries to help end the fighting and provide extra peacekeepers.
OCHA’s warning came as a fragile ceasefire called by both President Salva Kiir and his opponent Vice President Riek Machar appeared to hold in Juba on Tuesday after four days of gun battles.
South Sudan was founded with optimistic celebrations in the capital on July 9, 2011, after it gained independence from Sudan in a referendum that passed with close to 100 percent of the vote. The U.N. mission in South Sudan, UNMISS, expressed its outrage after its bases in Juba were caught in the crossfire between the two sides and two Chinese peacekeepers were killed.
In this photo taken Sunday, July 10, 2016, black smoke is seen rising above the capital Juba, in South Sudan.
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Despite calls for calm from worldwide powers, fighting in Juba continues, with heavy weaponry damaging at least one hospital by shellfire, as well as striking several United Nations refugee camps.
