Senior UN official warns South Sudan peace process 'faltering'
New York, US (PANA) - A senior UN official has warned that the peace process in South Sudan is “faltering” and in need of fresh energy and a reset, despite some positive developments in recent months.
Briefing the UN Security Council on Tuesday, David Shearer said these positive developments included the formation of a unity Government and an agreement in June – after a four-month standoff - on the allocation of states between Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Government (SPLM-IG), led by President Salva Kiir, and the SPLM in Opposition, led by First Vice President Riek Machar.
Going forward, Mr. Shearer, who heads the UN Mission in the world’s youngest nation (UNMISS), said that state governors should now be appointed to fill a power vacuum and tackle a four-fold increase in violent incidents over the past two years.
Violence in Jonglei, Unity, Lakes, Warrap and Western Equatoria states – in which hundreds of civilians have been killed, women and children abducted, and more than 60,000 people displaced – can no longer be pigeonholed as “intercommunal”, he said.
“Fighters in uniform have been spotted … suggesting that organized forces may be joining the conflict, which risks unravelling the ceasefire,” said Mr Shearer who presented the Secretary-General’s latest report on South Sudan, a UN statement said.
On health, he said South Sudan is facing the twin threat of COVID-19 and an uptick in violence that risks unravelling a fragile ceasefire and derailing the peace process.
Mr Shearer said that so far, nearly 2,000 cases of novel coronavirus - and 35 deaths - have been recorded in South Sudan.
But limited testing and social stigmatization is likely obscuring the true magnitude of the pandemic, said Mr. Shearer, who heads the UN Mission in the world’s youngest nation (UNMISS).
The UN statement said the Mission’s greatest fear is that the additional pressure of responding to COVID-19 on South Sudan’s weak healthcare system will disrupt vaccinations, maternal health services and treatment for curable diseases like malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia.
The result could be a “devastating” increase in deaths that would likely greater than the loss of life from COVID-19 itself.
“COVID is going to hit hard, but not necessarily in the way that we think,” he told the Council via video-teleconference.
“Yes, people will die from the virus, like everywhere else in the world. But the real threat to the people of South Sudan lies in the collapse of the already fragile health system,” he said.
“This could result in many many more lives being lost – a tragedy that can be prevented.”
South Sudan attained independence from Sudan in July 2011. However, it has been mired in political instability and violence since 2013, centred around fighting between forces loyal to the president and his former vice-president.
