Pope Cancels Trip to South Sudan
- The Vatican said it canceled a tentative plan for Pope Francis to visit South Sudan this year; a spokesman did not offer a reason for the cancellation (Reuters)
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Latest News
Instability in South Sudan
South Sudan President Declares Cease-Fire
- President Salva Kiir declared a unilateral cease-fire and the start of a national dialogue process; opposition groups have denounced the dialogue proposal (Voice of America)
South Sudan Increases Fees for NGOs
- The government has increased the registration fee for foreign non-governmental organizations working in South Sudan from $600 to $3,500 (Reuters)
Advance UN Peacekeeper Team Arrives in South Sudan
- Advance members of a regional protection force authorized by the UN in 2016 arrived in the capital of Juba, with the rest of the four thousand troops expected to arrive by July. The deployment reinforces the twelve thousand peacekeepers already in the country (Associated Press)
Forty-Two South Sudanese Affiliated with Former Vice President Are Evacuated
- The U.S. embassy in Juba assisted forty-two South Sudanese, some of whom are dual U.S. citizens, evacuate the country by boarding a chartered flight to Cyprus.The individuals feared for their safety due to affiliations with ousted former Vice President Riek Machar (Voice of America)
Aid Workers Killed in South Sudan Ambush
- Six aid workers from a South Sudanese non-governmental organization were killed in an ambush as they traveled from Juba through a government-controlled area (Sudan Tribune)
South Sudan Protests UN Report Claiming it Spends Half of Budget on Weapons
- South Sudan’s information minister protested a UN report stating that the Juba government continues to spend its oil revenues on weapons even after a famine was declared in the country (Sudan Tribune)
Gunmen Ambush South Sudan Aid Convoy
- An aid convoy returning from a cholera outbreak mission in Yirol was ambushed by two gunmen, where two workers died from gunshot wounds (Reuters)
Japan to Withdraw Peacekeepers from South Sudan
- Japan will withdraw three hundred fifty servicemen from a UN peacekeeping contingent in South Sudan. The deployment had been a controversial move in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to expand Japan’s military role abroad (Japan Times)
South Sudan Raises Permit Price for Aid Agencies
- Aid agencies asked the Juba government for clarification after it published a memo saying the price of work permits for humanitarian aid agencies would rise from $100 to $10,000. The memo came after President Salva Kiir promised humanitarian organizations “unimpeded access” after the country declared a state of famine (Guardian)
Former Military Official Announces New Rebel Group
- Former South Sudanese senior military official General Thomas Cirillo Swaka announced the creation of a new rebel group, National Salvation Front, to fight President Salva Kiir (VOA)
United Nations Highlights Uptick in South Sudanese Refugees
- Famine and violence have caused 1.5 million refugees to flee South Sudan and enter Uganda and other neighboring countries, marking the second largest refugee flow after Syria (Reuters)
South Sudan Declares World’s First Famine Since 2012
- The South Sudanese government and the United Nations declared a famine affecting a hundred thousand people (Sudan Tribune)
South Sudanese Troops Accused of Mass Rape
- Forty-seven men were detained following reports of mass rape of women and girls by South Sudanese soldiers in villages near the capital of Juba last week (Sudan Tribune)
- President Salva Kiir recently issued a warning that soldiers who rape will be shot
South Sudan’s Lieutenant General Resigns
- Lieutenant-General Thomas Cirillo Swaka alleged that South Sudanese President Salva Kiir engaged in violent ethnic cleansing of minority non-Dinka tribes “in pursuit of land occupation,” thus prompting his resignation from the army (Newsweek)
South Sudan Government Rejects Notion of International Trusteeship
- A spokesperson for South Sudan’s president dismissed calls for the country to be placed under an international trusteeship, stating that there will always be “minority voices that would hope for something” different from that of the majority (Sudan Tribune)
South Sudan Rejects Additional Peacekeepers
- A foreign ministry spokesperson announced that South Sudan will no longer accept an additional four thousand peacekeeping troops authorized by the United Nations in August to support the 13,500 troops already there (Al Jazeera)
- The spokesperson said the government is able to provide security to the country without the additional deployment
UN Warns of Genocide in South Sudan
- The head of a UN human rights investigation team said that South Sudan (Al Jazeera) is “on the brink of an all-out ethnic civil war” and called for the deployment of a protection force to prevent a “Rwanda-like” genocide
UN: Evidence of Ethnic Cleansing in South Sudan
- A United Nations human rights commission said that “a steady process of ethnic cleansing” is underway in South Sudan (Al Jazeera)
Japanese Peacekeepers Arrive in South Sudan
- Three hundred and fifty Japanese peacekeepers arrived in South Sudan with a new mandate that authorizes the use of force (Al Jazeera)
United States Seeks Arms Embargo Against South Sudan
- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power proposed an arms embargo and targeted sanctions on South Sudanese leaders (Sudan Tribune)
- Power declared in a Security Council address that “all the ingredients exist” there for a genocide (U.S. Mission to the UN)
Kenya Begins Withdrawing Peacekeeping Troops
- Kenya has begun withdrawing its troops from the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon replaced the Kenyan commander of the mission (VOA)
Kenya Pulls Troops from Peacekeeping Mission
- Kenya announced it is withdrawing troops from the UN mission in South Sudan, after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sought to replace the Kenyan commander of the peacekeeping force because of his failure to protect civilians (Al Jazeera)
UN Removes South Sudan Peacekeeping Commander
- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon removed a Kenyan general from his post as South Sudan Peacekeeping Commander after an investigation found that international troops under his command failed to protect civilians and aid workers during a July attack in Juba by government soldiers (BBC)
Armed Opposition Groups Release Child Soldiers
- Armed opposition groups released 145 child soldiers in a ceremony, according to UNICEF. The children had been recruited by the rebel factions of former Vice President Riek Machar and Deputy Defense Minister David Yau Yau (Africa News)