In a unanimous statement, the council condemned the violence “in the strongest terms” and expressed “particular shock and outrage” at attacks on United Nations sites. “Any withdrawals would send precisely the wrong signal, in South Sudan and across the world”, he further stressed.
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Kiir and Macahar issued a ceasefire Monday. But fighting continued despite the peace agreement and the current clashes in Juba threaten to plunge the parts of South Sudan that had been relatively stable back into violence.
There were no immediate details of casualties from Sunday’s violence.
Gunfire was reported in areas close to UNMISS compounds in Jebel and Tomping during the days of fighting. “First, impose an immediate arms embargo on South Sudan”.
“Monday morning began much as Sunday morning began in Juba”, Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from the capital, said.
In a statement, the MEA said, “We are closely monitoring the situation in South Sudan”.
“We call on those fighting to return to their barracks”.
“While targeted sanctions are not a substitute for criminal accountability, in the short term they would serve as a deterrent to further violations, where none now exists”, said Elizabeth Deng.
“The latest fighting since Friday has displaced 36,000 people”, Vanessa Huguenin, spokeswoman for the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA, told AFP, speaking in French. He ordered it to start at 8pm local time, two hours after the deadline set by Mr Kiir.
“I’ve gotten calls that I should leave but there was so much gunfire nearby I chose to stay in”, said one resident, who insisted on anonymity for her safety. Two UN peacekeepers from China were killed at the base, according to Chinese state media. Several other peacekeepers have been injured, as well as a number of civilians who have been caught in crossfire.
In the latest fighting, government troops have lined up tanks and fired on a United Nations base where tens of thousands of civilians are sheltering, according to witnesses. “It makes a mockery of commitments to peace”. About 300 soldiers were reportedly killed in fighting at the weekend. This quickly escalated into serious fighting from Friday onwards.
South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011 but its short history has been marred by years of civil war.
There are concerns that what we are seeing is a repeat of what happened in December 2013.
Following a localised firefight between rival military factions on Thursday night in Juba, major fighting erupted on Friday outside the presidential compound as Kiir was meeting with Machar, a former rebel leader and now first vice president.
Fighting was heard in several other parts of the city throughout the day, including the tinderbox Gudele neighbourhood – where rebel leader turned vice president Riek Machar is headquartered – and the central Tongping area near the worldwide airport, with gunfire intensifying and subsiding at different times.
What can the worldwide community do?
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The global community played a major role in the creation of South Sudan and has tried to exercise some influence since independence in 2011. The chairman of the ceasefire monitoring group Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), Festus Mogae, called for the peace deal signed last August to be implemented.
