UN Investigators Warn South Sudan Nears Renewed War, Call for Urgent Action

Overview

• Briefing the UN General Assembly, commissioners said the ceasefire is failing, political detentions are being used as repression, and government forces have carried out aerial bombardments in civilian areas.
• Fighting since March has newly displaced more than 370,000 people, with neighboring states hosting about 2.5 million South Sudanese refugees and roughly 2 million more displaced inside the country, alongside nearly 600,000 refugees in South Sudan mostly from Sudan.
• Investigators linked the crisis to entrenched corruption, saying billions in oil revenues have been siphoned off through opaque deals as public services collapse and elites benefit.
• The report details ongoing sexual violence, forced recruitment of children, and extrajudicial killings with complicity by national authorities, noting starved justice institutions and an unfulfilled pledge to curb National Security Service detention powers.
• The commission described increasingly complex conflict dynamics, citing partisan reshuffles and ethnic grievances and highlighting Nasir, where militia overran a government garrison after partisan deployments, while urging coordinated UN, AU, and regional engagement for an inclusive political transition.