NEW YORK – United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned at the UN Security Council on Tuesday that developments in South Sudan were moving “in a negative and possibly dangerous direction,” urging the transitional government to recommit to the peace deal.
Lacroix warned of increasing ceasefire violations include widespread aerial bombardments and clashes between signatories of the Revitalized Peace Agreement in the country.
Recalling that First Vice-President Reik Machar and allied opposition leaders remain detained and on trial, he stressed that adherence to due process is crucial “if public confidence is to be maintained and the trial does not serve as a trigger for violence”.
With the “trust deficit” between key players widening, the Peace Agreement “remains the only viable framework for long term peace and stability”, he affirmed.
He said that despite shrinking resources and ambitious mandates, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) remains vital to preserving peace and stability through the transition.
With transitional security arrangements stalled and minimal progress on the Constitution, Lacroix urged resuming the Government-led Joint Task Force with the UN, African Union, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and Troika.
He warned of a catastrophic humanitarian situation, with 7.5 million people facing severe food insecurity, 28,000 at risk of famine and over 1.2 million returnees and refugees from Sudan entering a country “already struggling to feed its own”.
With time running short, he emphasized the need to bring the peace process back on track, calling for a clear message from the Council.
Developments in Sudan “serve as a reminder that peacekeeping is an investment in international peace and security as the region simply cannot afford another conflict causing more suffering to the people of South Sudan, who have suffered far too much and for far too long”, he stated.
Women suffer most in rising violence
For her part, Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) affirmed that “as always in crisis and conflict, women and girls are hit hardest” — facing relentless climate challenges, food insecurity, sexual violence, abductions and more.
South Sudan has one of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the region, with an estimated 2.7 million people at risk, she said. In 2024, UNMISS documented 260 cases of conflict-related sexual violence.
“The UN’s work in South Sudan is more critical than ever,” she stressed, rejecting attempts to backtrack. Sharing an example where 100 girls were trapped in a boarding school during a cattle raid, she noted UN peacekeepers intervened and de-escalated the situation.
“Those 100 girls would find it incomprehensible that the mandates and resources behind those peacekeepers’ might somehow be in question,” she said.
Warning that South Sudan risks relapsing back into full-scale conflict, Solomon Ayele Dersso, Executive Director of the civil society group Amani Africa Media and Research Services, declared that the Council “must take decisive steps to prevent this”.
Fighting between the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces and armed groups linked to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition continues to escalate, while — in addition to the 2 million people already internally displaced — nearly 500,000 people were newly displaced from January to September.
Making several urgent recommendations, he called on the Council “to exercise its enormous influence to nudge the parties” into ending unilateral actions and starting dialogue.
The Council should also visit South Sudan and support deployment of a preventive diplomacy effort under auspices of the UN-African Union Joint Framework Partnership.
Leaders prioritized ‘personal enrichment’
During the briefings, the delegate of the United States urged Juba to “immediately reverse course” and renounce violence.
Recalling that the United States contributed over $9 billion in direct bilateral assistance, she said: “Unfortunately, the transitional Government has not done its part.”
South Sudan’s leaders have “prioritized personal enrichment” over humanitarian needs despite $25 billion in oil revenue since independence, the diplomat said. She added that some international organizations call for more donations without holding Juba accountable for its role in a largely human-made crisis.
Voicing concern over the country’s deteriorating political situation, the United Kingdom’s delegate cited violations of the peace agreement, exclusionary reshuffles of Government and the systematic sidelining of opposition voices.
The ongoing detention and trial of the First Vice-President represents a serious risk, she warned. Against that backdrop, representatives of the Republic of Korea, Greece and France reaffirmed support for the Revitalized Peace Agreement, with the latter calling it the “only political framework offering a prospect of peaceful development for the country”.
Noting that South Sudan’s peace was hard-won, China’s delegate said it “should be cherished”, with the international community helping “this young country move forward towards stability and development”.
Worsening Humanitarian Crisis
Several delegates, including those from Panama and Pakistan, warned of South Sudan’s worsening humanitarian crisis, driven by conflict, severe flooding, a cholera outbreak and spillover from Sudan’s war.
Pakistan’s delegate urged donors to fund the Humanitarian Response Plan, now only 30 per cent financed, and called for protection of aid workers and respect for humanitarian law.
The delegate of Denmark voiced alarm over rising conflict-related sexual violence and urged unrestricted UN access. Slovenia delegate stressed that “the people of South Sudan deserve more than survival,” warning against waiting for another famine as thousands face catastrophe.
Meanwhile, the representative of the Russian Federation highlighted the harmful effects of the arms embargo — echoed by representatives of the African continent – and citing it as the main obstacle to a unified national army, urging that it be eased or completely dismantled.
South Sudan must be offered coherent solutions “adapted to the changed domestic political landscape”, with the Government and opposition halting further escalation, and return to the logic of the Revitalized Peace Agreement.
The timeframe “should be left to Juba’s discretion” rather than demanding immediate progress in establishing democratic institutions “based on Western models”, she stated.
For her part, the representative of South Sudan reaffirmed her Government’s “unwavering commitment to the full implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement” as “the only way out of the transition and the only way into stability in South Sudan”.
She called upon signatories to the peace agreement to exercise restraint, “refrain from inflammatory actions” and re-engage constructively. Individuals who have been charged or in the process of the courts “should not detract” from continuation of the Peace Agreement.
Recognizing “the magnitude of the humanitarian challenges facing our nation”, she noted that, with limited resources, “we’ve welcomed everybody from Sudan and have opened our borders and have remained very neutral” in that crisis.
