\u201cAll the dark clouds of a perfect storm have descended upon the people of the world\u2019s newest country \u2013 and one of the poorest,\u201d<\/strong> Mr. Guterres told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York.<\/p>\nAfter finally gaining independence from neighbouring Sudan in July 2011, civil war broke out in South Sudan in December 2013 between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and opposition forces led by his rival Riek Machar, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. \u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2018, a peace agreement ended the fighting and established a unity government.<\/p>\n
However, the arrest of First Vice President and main opposition leader Mr. Machar on Wednesday \u2013 alongside mounting military clashes and reported attacks on civilian populations \u2013 signals a severe unravelling of the peace process and a direct threat to millions, the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan explained on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Combined with growing regional spillover from the conflict in neighbouring Sudan, Mr. Guterres painted a dire picture of a country on the edge. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s not mince words,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we are seeing is darkly reminiscent of the 2013 and 2016 civil wars, which killed 400,000 people.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nMultiple crises at once<\/h2>\n
South Sudan is now facing what the Secretary-General described as a security emergency, political upheaval, humanitarian catastrophe, displacement crisis, economic collapse and a severe funding shortfall \u2013 all at once.<\/p>\n
Half the population is severely food insecure, he warned, while three out of four people require humanitarian assistance. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nMeanwhile, over one million people have fled across the border from Sudan<\/strong> since fighting broke out there last year between rival militaries \u2013 and cholera has been reported, compounding the crisis.<\/p>\n\u201cSouth Sudan may have fallen off the world\u2019s radar,\u201d Mr. Guterres said, \u201cbut we cannot let the situation fall over the abyss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Call for de-escalation and support<\/h2>\n
Mr. Guterres urged South Sudanese leaders to \u201cput down the weapons\u201d and \u201cput all the people of South Sudan first.\u201d \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nHe called for the restoration of the Government of National Unity and the full implementation of the peace agreement, which remains the only legal path to free and fair elections in December 2026.<\/p>\n
He also appealed to the regional and international community to speak with one voice in support of peace.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe fully support the initiative to deploy the [African Union] Panel of the Wise,\u201d he said, adding that he had spoken with the Chairperson of the AU Commission earlier in the day. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The Secretary-General described his long-standing connection to the people of South Sudan, recalling his first mission as High Commissioner for Refugees and his time spent with returnees. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had such enormous hopes and aspirations. But unfortunately, not the leadership they deserve.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAll the dark clouds of a perfect storm have descended upon the people of the world\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1405,967,1074,5869,255,602,1028,1399],"class_list":["post-55065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","tag-action","tag-demands","tag-guterres","tag-perfect","tag-south","tag-storm","tag-sudan","tag-urgent"],"yoast_head":"\n
\u2018Perfect storm\u2019 in South Sudan demands urgent action, says Guterres - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/03\/1161666\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Perfect storm\u2019 in South Sudan demands urgent action, says Guterres\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/03\/1161666\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-28T20:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1743183927_image560x340cropped.avif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Perfect storm\u2019 in South Sudan demands urgent action, says Guterres - Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/03\/1161666","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Perfect storm\u2019 in South Sudan demands urgent action, says Guterres","og_description":"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site","og_url":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/03\/1161666","og_site_name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","article_published_time":"2025-03-28T20:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":560,"height":340,"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1743183927_image560x340cropped.avif","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"gulftimes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_site":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"gulftimes","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/03\/1161666#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=55065"},"author":{"name":"gulftimes","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977"},"headline":"\u2018Perfect storm\u2019 in South Sudan demands urgent action, says Guterres","datePublished":"2025-03-28T20:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=55065"},"wordCount":449,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/03\/1161666#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1743183927_image560x340cropped.avif","keywords":["action","demands","Guterres","Perfect","South","Storm","Sudan","urgent"],"articleSection":["Africa"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/03\/1161666#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=55065","url":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/03\/1161666","name":"\u2018Perfect storm\u2019 in South Sudan demands urgent action, says Guterres - Gulf Times | News by the minute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/03\/1161666#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/03\/1161666#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1743183927_image560x340cropped.avif","datePublished":"2025-03-28T20:00:00+00:00","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/03\/1161666#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/03\/1161666"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/03\/1161666#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1743183927_image560x340cropped.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1743183927_image560x340cropped.avif","width":560,"height":340},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/03\/1161666#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Perfect storm\u2019 in South Sudan demands urgent action, says Guterres"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Largest News Aggregator in the Gulf","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Gulf News Aggregator","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization","name":"Gulf Times","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Gulf Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","https:\/\/x.com\/Gulftimesuae"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977","name":"gulftimes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"gulftimes"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/gulftimes.ae"],"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55065"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55073,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55065\/revisions\/55073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}