UNITED NATIONS: Political deadlock in South Sudan is sharply escalating violence, putting the world’s newest nation on a “dangerous precipice,” the United Nations’ peacekeeping chief warned.
Jean-Pierre Lacroix urged the UN Security Council and the broader international community to ensure that South Sudan’s government and opposition return to dialogue and agree on a way forward.
At the moment, he warned, “Both sides claim to be acting in self-defense, while at the same time preparing for the possibility of large-scale hostilities.”
There were high hopes when oil-rich South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long conflict. But the country slid into a civil war in December 2013 largely based on ethnic divisions, when forces loyal to Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, battled those loyal to Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer.
More than 400,000 people were killed in the war, which ended with a 2018 peace agreement that brought the opponents together in a government of national unity with Kiir as president and Machar as vice president. But implementation has been slow, and a long-delayed presidential election is now scheduled for December.
In a major escalation of tensions in March 2025, a Nuer militia seized an army garrison. Kiir’s government responded, charging Machar and seven other opposition figures with treason, murder, terrorism and other crimes, and suspended the vice president. The treason trial has been going on since late 2025.
Lacroix, the UN undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, singled out the escalation of fighting in recent weeks in Jonglei state, northeast of the capital, Juba, pointing to reports of bombings, inflammatory rhetoric, severe restrictions on humanitarian access, and over 280,000 people displaced by the violence, “as per government sources.”
The peacekeeping chief said the African Union Peace and Security Council, the regional group IGAD and the United Nations have made clear that there is no military solution and the 2018 peace agreement remains “the only viable framework for peace and stability.”
“Let me be clear,” Lacroix said, “without consensus, without the participation of all those who have placed their hopes into this peace process, and in all corners, in all 10 states of the country, any election will not be credible and therefore worthy of our support.”
He also called South Sudan one of the most dangerous places in the world for humanitarian workers, pointing to 350 attacks on staff and facilities in 2025 compared with 255 in 2024.
Despite government assurances, he said, the UN’s humanitarian partners report persistent restraints in delivering aid, especially to opposition-held areas, during the country’s worst cholera outbreak. Over 98,000 cases have been reported since it began in September 2024, and there is a resurgence of cases in Jonglei, he said.
Lacroix also cited airstrikes and looting affecting health facilities, most recently a Feb. 3 air attack on a hospital in Lankien, a town in Jonglei, that destroyed critical medical supplies and injured staff.
“These incidents raise serious concerns about shrinking humanitarian space at a time when more than 10 million people require humanitarian assistance, including 7.5 million facing food insecurity and over 1.3 million returnees and refugees from Sudan,” he said.
Against this upsurge in fighting, Lacroix said the UN has been forced to cut its peacekeeping force in South Sudan because of a lack of funding, resulting in a reduction in patrols to protect civilians by up to 40 percent in areas where UN forces are decreasing, and by up to 70 percent in areas where bases have been forced to close.
UN warns that South Sudan is on a ‘dangerous precipice’ as political deadlock escalates violence
https://arab.news/p3d53
UN warns that South Sudan is on a ‘dangerous precipice’ as political deadlock escalates violence
- There were high hopes when South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long conflict but the country slid into a civil war
Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’
- “Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference
MUNICH: A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities.
Kallas alluded to criticism in the US national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference. “In fact, people still want to join our club and not just fellow Europeans,” she added, saying she was told when visiting Canada last year that many people there have an interest in joining the EU.
Kallas rejected what she called “European-bashing.”
“We are, you know, pushing humanity forward, trying to defend human rights and all this, which is actually bringing also prosperity for people. So that’s why it’s very hard for me to believe these accusations.”
In his conference speech, Rubio said that an end to the trans-Atlantic era “is neither our goal nor our wish,” adding that “our home may be in the Western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.”
He made clear that the Trump administration is sticking to its guns on issues such as migration, trade and climate. And European officials who addressed the gathering made clear that they in turn will stand by their values, including their approach to free speech, climate change and free trade.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe must defend “the vibrant, free and diverse societies that we represent, showing that people who look different to each other can live peacefully together, that this isn’t against the tenor of our times.”
“Rather, it is what makes us strong,” he said.
Kallas said Rubio’s speech sent an important message that America and Europe are and will remain intertwined.
“It is also clear that we don’t see eye to eye on all the issues and this will remain the case as well, but I think we can work from there,” she said.
