JUBA
\nRenewed fighting in South Sudan has displaced more than 180,000 people, with witnesses describing indiscriminate use of barrel bombs and civilians fleeing into swamps as the country\u2019s fragile peace unravels.
\nThe world\u2019s youngest country has been beset by war, poverty and massive corruption since it was formed in 2011, but violence is once again on the rise between rival factions, currently focused on Jonglei state north of the capital Juba.
\n\u201cI am stuck and if worse comes, the only safe place for me to go is the swamps,\u201d said Daniel Deng, 35, one of thousands displaced by fighting in Jonglei, speaking to AFP by phone.
\nHe described heavy fighting last week in Duk county where he lives, after opposition forces took control only to be driven out by government troops.
\n\u201cMany people were killed,\u201d said Deng, estimating the number at around 300 fighters, which could not be verified by AFP.
\nA power-sharing agreement between the two main factions is all but dead after President Salva Kiir moved against his vice president and long-time rival, Riek Machar, who was arrested last March and is now on trial for \u201ccrimes against humanity.\u201d
\nTheir forces have fought several times over the past year, but the most sustained clashes began in late December in Jonglei.
\nSouth Sudanese authorities estimate the number of displaced at more than 180,000 across four counties of Jonglei, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said this week.
\n\u201cMost people are settling under trees. Their homes and health facilities have been looted or burned and there is a lot of hunger,\u201d said Deng.
\n– \u2018Indiscriminate attacks\u2019 –
\nKiir and Machar fought a five-year war shortly after independence that claimed 400,000 lives. A 2018 power-sharing deal kept the peace for some years, but plans to hold elections and merge their armies did not materialize.
\nThe fighting in Jonglei began in December in an area called Piri, said an NGO source in Juba, speaking on condition of anonymity.
\nHe said the government responded with \u201cindiscriminate\u201d air attacks, including the use of barrel bombs on civilians. It considers the local population \u201chostile\u201d and has ordered them to leave areas under opposition control, he said.
\nAnother NGO source said barrel bombs had landed within 100-200 meters of health facilities.
\n\u201cThere have been different kinds of threats coming from both sides,\u201d the source said.
\nMany have fled to the state capital, Bor.
\nMuch of Jonglei has been \u201cdesignated as red zones meaning no humanitarian access, no flights… People continue to flee and the number in Bor keeps on increasing day and night,\u201d a local civil society leader, Bol Deng Bol, said by phone.
\n\u201cWe are seeing mobilization and build-up of military from both sides, a sign that escalation is imminent,\u201d he added.
\nEstimating the death toll is impossible, he said, because many locals were still hiding \u201cin the bush.\u201d
\n\u201cLooting and confiscation of humanitarian assets, reportedly by both parties, have forced the suspension of essential health services for thousands,\u201d the UN\u2019s OCHA said in a situation report.
\n– \u2018Kids will die\u2019 –
\nSouth Sudan has major oil reserves, but vast corruption has left it among the poorest countries in the world, with nearly 7.7 million of its estimated 12 million citizens in a state of hunger, according to World Food Programme figures last April.
\nDoctors Without Borders (MSF) has struggled to supply teams on the ground in Jonglei, leading to \u201ccatastrophic\u201d shortages, said operations manager Gul Badshah, based in Nairobi.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t have the supplies… Kids will die, it\u2019s as simple as that,\u201d he said.
\nClashes have also been reported in the Upper Nile and Central Equatoria states in recent months.
\nSenior opposition leader Wisley Welebe Samsona called Monday for a march on Juba to \u201cremove the anti-peace regime.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat we are witnessing in Jonglei is not an isolated security incident; it is a dangerous escalation which is manifesting in other parts of the country as well,\u201d said Barney Afako, a member of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, in a statement.
\n\u201cThe actions in Jonglei could put the country into another dangerous spiral of violence,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JUBA Renewed fighting in South Sudan has displaced more than 180,000 people, with witnesses describing indiscriminate use of barrel bombs and civilians fleeing into swamps as the country\u2019s fragile peace unravels. The world\u2019s youngest country has been beset by war, poverty and massive corruption since it was formed in 2011, but violence is once again […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-527707","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n