"Tens of thousands dead in South Sudan conflict, UN says" by Jason Straziuso, Associated Press December 16, 2014
NAIROBI — Tens of thousands of people have died in South Sudan during one year of warfare, and the country’s leaders are putting their ‘‘personal ambitions’’ ahead of the nation’s future, the UN secretary general said Monday.
A year ago Monday, fighting broke out in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, and spread across the country.
The United Nations says more than 1.9 million people have been displaced by the warfare, battles that often pit fighters loyal to President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, against those who support former vice president Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on South Sudan’s leaders to agree to an inclusive power-sharing arrangement that would address the root causes of the conflict and ensure accountability for any crimes committed on the battlefield.
‘‘The leaders of South Sudan have allowed their personal ambitions to jeopardize the future of an entire nation,’’ Ban said. ‘‘The very premise of the country’s independence struggle — a new beginning that was supposed to be founded on tolerance, good governance, accountability, and unity — is disappearing before our eyes.’’
There is no official death toll for the war, but Ban said ‘‘tens of thousands’’ of South Sudanese have died. The fighting has been marked by vicious atrocities, largely ethnic in nature.
UN officials say they need $600 million by February to care for the 4.1 million people requiring aid in South Sudan. In some areas, people are eating water lilies to survive, the officials said.
Related: Seeking more aid, UNICEF points to children touched by armed conflict
More than 100,000 people are living in camps under the protection of UN peacekeeping forces. The UN estimates that more than 320,000 children are among the refugees.
Peace talks in neighboring Ethiopia have made no progress in resolving the conflict. The two sides have signed several peace deals brokered by neighboring governments, but none has succeeded in stopping the fighting in the oil-producing country.
South Sudan’s civilians are facing a dreadful situation and have been victims of targeted killings and looting, said the UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.
‘‘The people of South Sudan are living in a tinderbox, with emotions high, an abundant flow of weapons, and with both sides recruiting fighters, often forcefully and including children,’’ Hussein said.
Government troops and armed youths have been battling in Upper Nile state in recent days, a sign that widespread violence could return now that the six-month rainy season has ended.
President Obama urged South Sudan’s leaders last week to resolve the dispute peacefully.
‘‘It is in your hands to end the cycle of violence, to set forth on a course of reform and reconciliation, and to hold to account those responsible for atrocities,’’ he said Friday in a statement.
As fighting intensifies during the dry season, aid agencies fear that the world may lose interest in helping the people of South Sudan, particularly because humanitarian needs are continuing in places such as Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine.
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