The United Nations representative to South Sudan has urged leaders in the country to engage in dialogue to end the ongoing conflict.
David Shearer says military intervention is not an option – but rather the implementation of the peace agreement.
Shearer decried the blockage of humanitarian and aid workers and organizations from reaching some regions in South Sudan, saying the government had not kept its pledge to ease access to such organizations.
“At the upper reach of the government they are saying it’s perfectly fine to travel but what we are finding now, when it comes down to the people who are commanders, who are actually making the decision and even at the lower ranks, we are being stopped – stopped constantly from reaching the places we want to get to,” he said.
South Sudan has been rid by violence since December 2013 following accusations by President Salva Kiir that his then-deputy Riek Machar was plotting to overthrow his government.
Machar denied the allegations but then went on to mobilize a rebel force to fight the government.
There are more than 1.5 million South Sudanese living outside their country after fleeing the war, with more than two million others internally displaced. These figures represent nearly a third of South Sudans population.
The United Nations has listed South Sudan as Africa’s largest refugee crisis, while ranking it the third largest in the world after Syria and Afghanistan.
