Clashes in S.Sudan displace 50,000 - UN

JUBA — Clashes between rival forces in South Sudan have displaced at least 50,000 people since February, a UN agency said Tuesday, while the most senior UN official in the country warned it was on the "brink of relapse into civil war".

Tensions have been mounting over clashes in the north-eastern Upper Nile State between forces allied to President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, threatening to undermine their fragile peace-sharing agreement.

"The violence is putting already vulnerable communities at greater risk and forcing the suspension of life-saving services," Anita Kiki Gbeho, an official with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA] in South Sudan said in a statement.

On Monday, an air strike by the South Sudanese government in Nasir County killed at least 20 people, including children, area commissioner James Gatluak told AFP.

OCHA said 10,000 of the displaced had crossed into Ethiopia.

It added that 23 humanitarian workers had also been forced to leave the region and a cholera treatment unit in Nasir closed.

The head of the UN Mission in South Sudan [UNMISS], Nicholas Haysom, said Tuesday the country was "poised on the brink of relapse into civil war" which threatened to undo years of peace efforts.

Neighbouring Sudan is a grave example of how quickly a nation can descend into "catastrophic war", he said, urging all parties to deescalate tensions "before it is too late".

"This region cannot afford another conflict," he said.

 'No hope'

Last week, Doctors without Borders [MSF] reported 1,300 cholera cases in South Sudan's Akobo County, located in the Upper Nile region.

Relief International staff based in the region warned they were already struggling due to massive cuts in USAID funding by the administration of President Donald Trump.

"With the supplies that we had here... it is not enough," said one member, who requested anonymity given the security situation.

The team — two doctors, six clinical officers, eight nurses and seven midwives, currently treat more than 200 patients daily at Renk Transit Centre in Upper Nile.

"So now we are very worried," said one doctor, who also asked to remain anonymous, describing staffing and medicine shortages.

"There is no hope for refugees and returnees," he told AFP.

"When I'm seeing patients coming and there is nothing in my hand to help that patient, it is too painful."

Threatened peace

The fighting threatens a 2018 peace deal between Kiir and Machar, who fought a five-year civil war that killed some 400,000 people.

Kiir's allies have accused Machar's forces of fomenting unrest in Nasir County in league with the White Army, a loose band of armed youths from the vice-president's Nuer ethnic community.

Tensions spiked earlier this month when an estimated 6,000 White Army combatants overran a military encampment in Nasir.

An attempted rescue by the United Nations led to the deaths of a UN helicopter pilot and senior South Sudanese general, among others.