UN push to end hostilities in South Sudan

UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, arrived South Sudan on Tuesday seeking to strengthen political solutions to the ongoing conflict and demand an end to hostilities.

Lacroix said at Juba International Airport that he would hold talks with the government and other humanitarian actors to advocate for peaceful resolution of the conflict in the country.

“I look forward to having discussions with the President of South Sudan and members of the government to assess the security situation as well as the political process on how we can help move the processes forward,” Lacroix said.

Lacroix will also use his three-day visit to South Sudan to undertake two field visits to affected areas by the conflict.

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South Sudan has been embroiled in more than three years of conflict that has have taken a devastating toll on the people of the country.

The peace pact signed in Addis Ababa in 2015 under intense international pressure was shattered again following renewed violence between rival government and opposition troops in the capital Juba on July 2016.

The conflict has since spread to other regions which enjoyed relative peace, causing mass displacement of least 3.5 million people from their homes, ethnic polarisation and tribal violence that has killed tens of thousands of people.