NAIROBI: The number of civilians killed in South Sudan has soared to the highest in almost five years, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

The unstable east African nation has seen a drastic uptick in violence since simmering rivalry between President Salva Kiir and his vice president Riek Machar boiled over into open hostilities.

The detention in March of Machar in the capital Juba further escalated tensions, with international NGOs working in the country reporting attacks on medical facilities and the targeting of civilians.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said that between January and March of this year, 739 civilians were killed, 679 injured, 149 abducted and 40 subjected to conflict-related sexual violence.

In a statement, it said that compared to the previous quarter this toll marked a “110 percent increase in civilians killed (352 to 739).”

The overall figure of victims was “the highest number in any three-month period since 2020.”

The majority of the victims were recorded in Warrap State, where President Kiir declared a state of emergency in June. Most of the killings were linked to community-based militias or civil defense groups.

However, UNMISS said “conventional parties and other armed groups” accounted for 15 percent of victims, “marking a concerning increase of 27 percent (from 152 to 193).”

The UN has repeatedly warned of the deteriorating situation in the impoverished country, which is still recovering from a five-year civil war between forces allied to Kiir and Machar that was only ended by a fragile 2018 peace agreement.

That agreement has looked increasingly irrelevant, with UN rights chief Volker Turk calling on all parties in May to “urgently pull back from the brink” and uphold the deal.

The escalation of violence risks further worsening the already terrible humanitarian situation and widespread violations of human rights in the world’s youngest country, he said at the time.