UN peacekeepers were reportedly unable and, at times, unwilling to respond effectively to violent clashes in Juba, South Sudan in July 2016 according to a new report by the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC).
Nearly one month after UN Security Council members visited troubled South Sudan, disagreement reigns over even the limited outside measures proposed to try to bring the security situation in the world's newest country under control.
The situation in Juba, South Sudan on Thursday was "tense" but "calm" following recent intense fighting, UN Spokesperson for the Secretary General Stephane Dujarric told journalists here Thursday.
Gatmai Deng lost three family members in the violence that erupted in South Sudan on Dec. 15 and lasted until the end of January. And he blames their deaths on the government’s failure to use the country’s vast oil revenues to create a better life for its almost 11 million people.
An interim human rights report released by the beleaguered U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan is being tentatively hailed by rights groups and observers who have pressured the mission to be more transparent with its findings.
As South Sudan’s fragile ceasefire threatens to unravel, human rights groups are calling on the U.N.’s mission there to make public its human rights reporting, a step they say will help lay the groundwork for reconciliation that never took place following independence in 2011.
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has declared a state of emergency in two states, according to the government's official Twitter account.