“Inflammatory rhetoric calling for violence against civilians, including the most vulnerable, is utterly abhorrent and must stop now,” said the head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (Unmiss). South Sudan’s deputy army chief Gen Johnson Oluny made the call as he addressed his Agwelek militia as they prepared to be sent to parts of Jonglei state. Forces aligned to South Sudan’s suspended Vice-President Riek Machar have captured several areas in recent weeks. The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan (UNCHRSS) expressed “grave alarm” at the latest fighting in Jonglei state, north of the capital Juba, where witnesses have described civilians fleeing into swamps. Conflict in South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, broke out in 2013, two years after independence, when President Salva Kiir accused Machar of plotting to overthrow him.

Source: Daily Nation January 27, 2026 11:00 UTC