Security Council action needed to permanently end South Sudan violence

Peace in South Sudan can only be salvaged through “a strong political and coordinated approach,” UN peacekeeping chief Hervé Ladsous has told the Security Council. Violence between rival forces in the capital, Juba, has killed up to 300 people, including two UN peacekeepers. South Sudan has only been independent since July 2011 but has experienced more than two years of war stemming from a political rift between the President and his deputy. While the two leaders have joined to form a transitional unity government, the renewed fighting has cast doubts over the implementation of a peace agreement signed last August.

“Guns will not help” peace in South Sudan

“Guns will not help” to bring peace in South Sudan; that’s the view of one prominent elder in the world’s newest nation. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011 in a referendum in which almost 99 per cent of the population vote to secede. The most recent upsurge fighting is just the latest incident in the civil conflict that broke out in December 2013. Up to 300,000 people are estimated to have been killed and more than one million people have been displaced inside South Sudan; around 400,000 people have fled to the neighbouring countries. Felix Francis Katie reports from Western Equatoria state.

Cambodian peacekeepers treat South Sudan wounded

As a ceasefire in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, appears to be holding, doctors at a United Nations hospital there continue to treat people wounded during six days of clashes between rival forces. More than 270 people died as a result of the fighting, including two UN peacekeepers from China. Dianne Penn reports on a hospital ran by Cambodian peacekeepers at the UN Mission in the country, UNMISS, which has been helping the injured get back on their feet.

Presenter: Jocelyne Sambira

Production Assistant: Sandra Guy

Duration: 10'00″