S Sudan clashes displace 50,000 as Western nations offer to mediate

JUBA: Clashes between rival forces in South Sudan have displaced at least 50,000 people since February, the UN said, as Western governments offered to mediate amid fears of renewed civil war.

Tensions have been mounting over clashes in the northeastern Upper Nile State between forces allied to President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, threatening a fragile power-sharing agreement.

More than 20 of Machar’s allies, including senior government and military officials, have been arrested in recent weeks. “The violence is putting already vulnerable communities at greater risk and forcing the suspension of life-saving services,” Anita Kiki Gbeho, an official with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in South Sudan said in a statement.

A group of Western embassies, including the United States and European Union, called for dialogue between Kiir and Machar and said they were “prepared to facilitate their discussion”.

On Monday, an air strike by the South Sudanese government in Nasir County -- considered a stronghold of Machar supporters -- killed at least 20 people, including children, area commissioner James Gatluak told AFP.

OCHA said 10,000 of the displaced had crossed into Ethiopia. It added that 23 humanitarian workers had been forced to leave the region and a cholera treatment unit in Nasir closed.

The head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Nicholas Haysom, said Tuesday the country was “poised on the brink of relapse into civil war”. Neighbouring Sudan is a grave example of how quickly a nation can descend into “catastrophic war”, he said, urging all parties to de-escalate tensions “before it is too late”. “This region cannot afford another conflict,” he said.