UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday urged all parties in South Sudan to "put down the weapons" amid warnings that the impoverished African country may be headed back into civil war.
"South Sudan may have fallen off the world’s radar, but we cannot let the situation fall over the abyss," Guterres told reporters.
The country's leaders, he added, should hear a "resounding message: Put down the weapons. Put all the people of South Sudan first."
South Sudan's opposition said the arrest late Wednesday of First Vice President Riek Machar, the longtime rival to President Salva Kiir, had invalidated the two sides' 2018 peace deal, the cornerstone of the nation's fragile stability.
Guterres painted a dire picture.
"All the dark clouds of a perfect storm have descended upon the people of the world’s newest country- and one of the poorest," he told reporters.
He described "intensifying clashes; aerial bombing of civilians -- including women and children—and political upheaval, including Machar's arrest, that has left the peace agreement "in shambles."
Guterres also deplored "a humanitarian nightmare," with serious shortages of food, a cholera outbreak, and a refugee crisis, all amid an economic meltdown.
Meantime, he added, "much of the already limited humanitarian and development aid is drying up."
"Let's not mince words," Guterres concluded. "What we are seeing is darkly reminiscent of the 2013 and 2016 civil wars, which killed 400,000 people."
He urged South Sudan's leaders to embrace dialogue and de-escalation, saying the country and its region "cannot afford another conflict."
On Wednesday, a convoy of 20 heavily armed vehicles entered Machar's residence in the capital, Juba, and arrested him, his party said, in a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has been building for weeks in the young country.
"The prospect for peace and stability in South Sudan has now been put into serious jeopardy," said Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, the deputy chair of Machar's party, in a statement.
The arrest drew widespread international condemnation, including from the African Union and the European Union.
With AFP
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