South Sudan on the Brink of Renewed Civil War, UN WarnsNew York, 25 Mar (ONA) —- Head of the United Nations Mission in
South Sudan (UNMISS) Nicholas Haysom said that the deteriorating
situation in the country leads him to assess that South Sudan is
teetering on the brink of renewed civil war.

The indiscriminate attacks on civilians in the Nasir area of
Upper Nile state caused significant human losses and horrific
injuries, Haysom pointed out, further noting that at least 63,000
people have fled due to the deteriorating situation in the region.

He said UNMISS is conducting “intense shuttle diplomacy”
alongside international and regional peace partners, including the
African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD),
and the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, to
bring peace to South Sudan.

The international community’s efforts to mediate a peaceful
solution can only succeed if the parties themselves are willing to
engage and place the interests of their peoples above their own,
Haysom emphasized.

Haysom warned that the alternative is sliding into a conflict
that would erase all the hard-won gains made since the signing of the
peace agreement in 2018. It would devastate not only South Sudan, but
the entire region, which simply cannot afford another war.

Head of UNMISS stressed that the collective message of the region
and the international community is one and that there is only one way
out of the cycle of conflict, which is to return to the revitalized
peace agreement, in letter and spirit.—- Ends/Khalid