UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Wednesday called for urgent action against perpetrators of the South Sudan conflict, urging the international community to act quickly.
“Pressure must be brought to bear on those driving this deadly conflict, which has uprooted a third of South Sudan’s people in just four years, and killed and maimed countless more. Urgent, concerted action by regional and international actors is needed before it is too late,” Grandi said.
South Sudan has been rocked by conflict since December 2013, sparked by accusations from President Salva Kiir that his then deputy Riek Machar was plotting a coup against his government. Machar denied the allegations but then went ahead to mobilize a rebel force to fight the government.
The war has killed thousands and displaced millions, prompting the United Nations to rank South Sudan as Africa’s biggest refugee crisis, coming third worldwide after Syria and Afghanistan.
“The world cannot continue to stand by as the people of South Sudan are terrorized by a senseless war,” he said.
Regional leaders and the international community have urged the warring factions to engage in dialogue to end the crisis, but clashes continue to rock the world’s youngest nation.
Machar remains in South Africa where he went to seek medical attention following clashes in Juba in July 2016, but has not been able to return to his country.
The UN on Wednesday announced that South Sudan requires US$1.7 billion in aid next year to help 6 million people – half its population – cope with the effects of war, hunger and economic decline.
South Sudanese refugees are hosted by immediate neighbours — Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic, which are struggling with instability and large-scale displacement of their own nationals.
