JUBA: South Sudan President Salva Kiir granted an amnesty to all those involved in the nation’s civil war including rebel leader Riek Machar, according to a television broadcast, days after they signed a peace deal.
On Sunday Kiir, SPLM-IO leader Machar — the president’s former deputy — and other groups signed a cease-fire and power-sharing agreement in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
The amnesty order was read out on state-run television late on Wednesday.
A political row between Kiir and Machar degenerated in 2013 into a war that has killed tens of thousands, forced a quarter of the population to flee their homes and wrecked the country’s oil-dependent economy.
The conflict has often been fought along ethnic lines. Previous peace deals have failed, including one in 2015 that briefly halted hostilities but fell apart after Machar returned to the capital Juba the following year.
SPLM-IO is the largest of the rebel groups fighting Kiir’s government, and fighters allied to it control several areas close to the capital.
Some of its generals broke off to form their own movements or to join Kiir’s government, and other anti-government groups have also emerged since the conflict erupted, some of which have fought against each other.
South Sudan president Kiir grants amnesty to rebel leader Machar, others
South Sudan president Kiir grants amnesty to rebel leader Machar, others
26 Doctors without Borders workers remain unaccounted for in South Sudan a month after attacks
- A hospital in the town of Lankien was bombed by government forces, MSF said
- “We have lost contact with them amid ongoing insecurity”
NAIROBI: More than two dozen Doctors Without Borders workers remain unaccounted for a month after attacks in South Sudan, the medical charity said.
Two facilities belonging to the group, known by French acronym MSF, were attacked on Feb. 3 in Jonglei State, northeast of the capital, Juba, where violence has displaced an estimated 280,000 people since December.
A hospital in the town of Lankien was bombed by government forces, MSF said, while another medical facility in the town of Pieri was raided by “unknown assailants.” Both were located in opposition-held areas.
Staff working at the two facilities fled alongside much of the local population into deeply rural areas where armed clashes and aerial bombardments were ongoing.
MSF said in a statement on Monday that “26 of 291 of our colleagues working in Lankien and Pieri remain unaccounted for.
“We have lost contact with them amid ongoing insecurity,” it said.
The lack of communication with its staff could be linked to the limited network connectivity in much of the state. Staff members who had been contacted described “destruction, violence and extreme hardships.”
Fighting escalated sharply in December, when opposition forces captured a string of government outposts in north central Jonglei. In January, the government responded with a counteroffensive that recaptured most of the area it had lost.
Displaced people in Akobo, an opposition-held town near the Ethiopian border, described horrific violence by government fighters. Many described not being able to find food or water as they walked for days to reach safety.
The attacks on MSF facilities in Lankien and Pieri are part of an uptick in violence on humanitarian staff, supplies and infrastructure, aid groups say. MSF facilities have been attacked 10 times in the last 12 months.
“This violence has taken an unbearable toll not only on health care services, but on the very people who kept them running,” said Yashovardhan, MSF head of mission in South Sudan, who only uses one name.
“Medical workers must never be targets,” he said. “We are deeply concerned about what has happened to our colleagues and the communities we serve.”
