South Sudan

Abyei Administrative Area governmentCopyright: Abyei Administrative Area government

At least three people have been killed and five others wounded after their convoy was ambushed by the South Sudanese army, local officials said.

Nyinkwany Aguer Bol, the acting Minister of Information in the Abyei Special Administrative Area, described the attack, which took place in Agok on Sunday, as “an attempted assassination” targeting key officials in the Abyei government.

The Minister of Local Government and Law Enforcement Agencies, and Commissioner of Rum-Amer County were in the convoy.

The South Sudanese army did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

Mr Aguer condemned the incident and said the presence of South Sudanese soldiers in schools in Agok and Sunday’s attack were clear indications of South Sudan army’s plan to discourage the existence of the Abyei Administration.

South Sudan and Sudan jointly administer Abyei, and both claim ownership to the region in a dispute that has remained unresolved since the South's independence in 2011.

Mr Aguer urged the South Sudan army leadership in the capital Juba to urgently redeploy its troops who are stationed along the border of Abyei and Twic County of Warrap State.

In February, two armed youth groups from Warrap State in South Sudan raided Abyei, killing at least 50 people, including two UN peacekeepers.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

South Sudan's government says all schools will reopen next week - they had been closed due to a severe heatwave that's seen temperatures soar well above 40C.

People are relieved that the rainy season is expected to begin soon. At least 15 people died because of last week's "excessive heat", according to the authorities.

They say teachers should remain cautious when students return, keeping any playground activities to the early morning and holding them preferably indoors.

The advice is also to ventilate classrooms, provide water for learners during school time, and monitor children – especially the young ones – for signs of heat exhaustion, and heatstroke, and alert medics in the eventuality of such cases.

The ministries of general education, health, and environment said they will continue to closely observe the weather conditions in South Sudan and will advise the public accordingly.

The medical charity, MSF, has warned of outbreaks of measles in South Sudan and Yemen.

It said that there had been seven deaths and more than 450 cases among children under-five since February in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria state.

MSF said that its hospital unit in Taiz Houban in Yemen had received around 1,500 measles patients in recent months.

It said low vaccination rates and difficult access to primary healthcare were major factors in the outbreaks.

At least 15 people including senior officials have been killed in an ambush in South Sudan.

Officials say the commissioner of Boma county in Pibor was returning from a visit to a village on Tuesday, when youths from a rival community attacked .

He was killed along with his bodyguards and Boma's deputy army commander.

A 2018 peace deal ended a five year civil war in South Sudan.

But several areas including Boma county have experienced outbreaks of ethnic violence.

These have often been revenge attacks for cattle raids, involving the Murle, Anyuak, Nuer and Dinkas ethnic groups.

South Sudan’s government has ordered an indefinite closure of all schools because of a heatwave that could see temperatures rise to as high as 45C (113F).

Health and education authorities also urged parents to stop their children from playing outdoors for prolonged periods, saying the heatwave could last for two weeks.

"There are already cases of deaths related to excessive heat being reported," authorities said in a statement on Saturday.

They said that the country was experiencing “extended periods of high day and night-time temperatures that create cumulative physiological stress on the human body”.

Any school found open from Monday would have its registration withdrawn, the authorities warned.

Last week, at least 15 children were reported to have died of meningitis and other heat-related illnesses, according to the health ministry.

AFPCopyright: AFP

A US district court has charged a prominent South Sudanese activist, Peter Biar Ajak, with conspiring to purchase and illegally export weapons worth millions of dollars.

He was charged alongside his compatriot Abraham Chol Keech.

They are accused of colluding to buy weapons such as automatic rifles, grenade launchers, Stinger missile systems, hand grenades and other export-controlled items from the US to South Sudan.

They have not commented on the allegations.

The sale of weapons to South Sudan is prohibited by two US laws.

South Sudan has also been subject to an arms embargo by the UN Security Council that was initially imposed in 2018 and has been renewed several times since then.

The court said that as part of the illegal scheme to smuggle the weapons, the accused agreed to a $4m (£3.5m) contract worth of weapons and related items.

They also requested a “fake contract” in the same amount for consulting services and items such as communications equipment for use in refugee camps, a statement by the US Justice Department said.

Mr Ajak, a Harvard fellow and a vocal critic of President Salva Kiir’s government, was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to two years in prison.

He was pardoned by the president in January 2020.

South Sudan’s foreign affairs ministry has not yet commented on the arrest of the two.

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The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has condemned the killing of one of its staff in the country.

Charles Kiir Gone was serving with the peacekeeping mission in Wau, in the north-west.

He was reportedly killed during an attack by armed men in a relative’s home, where he was staying.

Mr Gone was on leave from work at the time of the attack that has been linked to cattle rustling, according to privately-owned Eye Radio news website.

UNMISS has condoled with the family and has urged authorities to immediately investigate the incident.

In a statement, UNMISS head Nicholas Haysom said the attack "illustrates the real and ongoing threat to the lives of UN peacekeepers supporting South Sudan on its journey towards peace”.

A vicious cycle of cattle raids and reprisal attacks have plagued South Sudan, with thousands killed in recent years.

Humanitarian agencies have warned that two weeks of fighting in the oil-rich region of Abyei on the border between Sudan and South Sudan have led to widespread displacement and hindered efforts to distribute aid.

Both countries jointly administer Abyei and claim ownership of the region.

The clashes have been linked to conflict between rival factions of the Dinka ethnic group - called the Ngok and the Twic.

Close to 100 people including UN peacekeepers have been killed.

Britain, the US and Norway - known as the Troika - have called on the South Sudanese government to hold accountable those behind the attacks.

Save the Children also says there have been incidents of looting of health and nutrition supplies at one of its health facilities.

The UN says more than 2,200 people, most of them women and children, are sheltering at one of its compounds in Rumajak, about 7km (4 miles) north of Abyei town. The humanitarian body also says it is beefing up land and air patrols to deter further violence.

Nichola Mandil/BBCCopyright: Nichola Mandil/BBC

Pope Francis made headlines a year ago, becoming the the first pontiff to visit the newest country of the world.

But on the anniversary of that visit, during which he and church leaders from the UK called for peace, South Sudanese people feel little has change. But some are still holding out hope.

"One of the messages of the Holy Father Pope Francis to South Sudanese was to unite, but unity is still elusive in us because we feel more tribal instead of being a nation, a nation that is united," the Catholic archbishop of Juba, Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Martin, told the BBC.

He said South Sudan's resources are not being shared more widely, despite the Pope having urged "togetherness".

Baby Pauline Blessing Adul was given a blessing by the pontiff a year ago. Her parents John Bosco Okwir and Jeniffer Ayaa say she continues to be a source of "blessing and joy" to the family and community.

And according to her father, the capital city Juba feels a somewhat calmer and safer place to live than before that visit last February.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

At least 37 civilians have been killed and 18 abducted in renewed attacks in an area disputed by South Sudan and Sudan, authorities have said.

It is the latest attack in a three-year-long spate of clashes in the oil-rich region of Abyei.

The majority of those killed during the weekend raid were women and children, the area's interim administration said.

Markets and residential areas were torched and 1,000 heads of cattle stolen.

The authorities accused two armed youth groups from Warrap State in South Sudan of raiding the area in the early hours of Saturday and Sunday and carrying out "coordinated attacks" on four different villages within Abyei.

Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sport in the Abyei Special Administration, Bulis Koch Aguar, condemned the attacks and urged the national government in Juba to address the conflict between the Ngok Dinka of Abyei and the Twic Dinka of Warrap.

Last week, two armed youth groups from Warrap State raided Abyei, killing at least 53 people, including two UN peacekeepers, in the deadliest incident in the disputed region.

Abyei remains a contested area between Sudan and South Sudan as the two countries have not yet resolved the dispute over the final status of the region.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The chief administrator of the disputed Abyei administrative area between Sudan and South Sudan says at least 21,000 returnees who fled the conflict in Sudan are in dire need of humanitarian assistance following deadly clashes over the weekend.

The returnees are scattered in different villages and in Abyei town, the BBC has learned.

On Saturday and Sunday, two armed youth groups from Warrap State in South Sudan raided Abyei, killing at least 52 people, including two UN peacekeepers.

The UN’s Interim Security Force (Unisfa) in Abyei is providing some food assistance for those who were displaced by the fighting and are camping inside its base. But the assistance cannot last long.

“The situation in Abyei is ‘more complicated’. There has been a lot of population here over the last two years, but they have not been able to cultivate because of insecurity. The influx of so many people – the returnees from Sudan – has also increased the population of the area,” chief administrator Chol Deng Alak told the BBC by phone from Abyei on Thursday.

He described the situation of the returnees in Abyei following Sunday’s deadly clashes as ‘dire’ and said that there was a need for “an urgent intervention” by humanitarian agencies.

Mr Alak says a delegation from the UN’s humanitarian agency and other international agencies are expected to arrive in Abyei on Friday to assess the needs of the people there.

Sudan and South Sudan have not yet resolved the dispute on the status of the oil-rich Abyei area. It is currently governed by a temporary 'special administrative' arrangement between the two countries.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The bodies of two UN peacekeepers killed in the disputed region of Abyei along South Sudan's border with Sudan have been flown back home.

The Ghanaian and Pakistani peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (Unisfa) were killed in separate incidents following recent intercommunal clashes, according to the UN.

On Saturday, 52 people were killed including the Ghanaian peacekeeper when armed youth launched attacks in different parts of Abyei. The UN said another 64 people were seriously wounded in the process.

Later on Sunday, a convoy transporting some of those injured in Saturday's attack was ambushed killing the Pakistani peacekeeper.

A ceremony attended by the leaders of the nine chiefdoms of Abyei was in held in honour of the two before their bodies were flown home.

Unisfa said it condemned the attacks on their peacekeepers and that this could constitute a war crime under international law.

There have been continued clashes between local communities in Abyei over land and resources with fears that the ongoing war in Sudan could spill into the region.

A local resident told the BBC that there is tension following recent clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Babanusa, a town 260km (160 miles) north of Abyei.

He added that should either of the warring sides in Sudan advance to Abyei, they might clash with the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces personnel who have set camp in parts of the region.

Both Sudan and South Sudan have claimed the oil-rich Abyei but agreed on temporary administrative arrangements in a 2011 deal.

However, the two sides have been accused by human rights activists of going against the agreement.

Abyei currently remains under the protection of UN peacekeeping troops.

More than 50 people - including two UN peacekeepers - have been killed in heavy fighting along the border between South Sudan and Sudan, officials say.

Armed men from South Sudan's Warrap State carried out raids in the neighbouring Abyei region on Saturday, Abyei information minister Bulis Koch was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

The motive for the attack is unclear, but the Associated Press news agency reported that the fighting was linked to a land conflict between members of the Twic Dinka and Ngok Dinka ethnic groups.

Both South Sudan and Sudan claim ownership of Abyei, in a dispute that has remained unresolved since the former gained its independence in 2011.

The UN force in the region, known by the acronym Unisfa, said that a Ghanaian peacekeeper was killed on Saturday after their base came under attack.

A Pakistani peacekeeper was killed on Sunday when UN troops came under heavy fire while transporting wounded civilians to hospital, it added.

The UN quoted local authorities as saying that 52 civilians had lost their lives and 64 others were seriously wounded in the fighting.

Nichola Mandil/BBCCopyright: Nichola Mandil/BBC

Authorities in South Sudan's Central Equatoria state have banned the sale of a popular beer after several people died after consuming the local gin.

The Royal Gin, popularly known as "Makuei Gin" is said to be addictive, mostly to young people.

Its consumption reportedly increased during Christmas and New Year celebrations, leading to deaths of an unspecified number of people.

“I have banned this red beer, Royal Gin called ‘Makuei’. Nobody should sell nor drink it because it is killing many young people," Governor of Central Equatoria state Emmanuel Adil Anthony said on Sunday.

"Many young people when they get drunk, they hit their mothers with machetes,” he added.

The Anglican Church in the capital, Juba, has urged the governor to make sure the ban is enforced.

The gin was nicknamed after Information Minister Michael Makuei in 2019, who is said to be the most talkative minister in South Sudan.

Last year, the minister called for the ban of the gin and demanded that the factory that produces it be closed down.

IOM South SudanCopyright: IOM South Sudan

South Sudan has received over half a million people who are fleeing the conflict in neighbouring Sudan, the UN's humanitarian agency says.

In its latest situational report on the Sudan crisis, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) says almost 5176,000 people have been recorded to have crossed the border to South Sudan since fighting broke out in Sudan on 15 April 2023.

About 81% of the arrivals were South Sudan nationals and 18% were Sudanese refugees, it added.

Ocha also said there was “a substantial increase” in the number of Sudanese refugees and asylum-seeker entrants into South Sudan this month.

The agency also says that the rising number of refugees arriving through South Sudan's border town of Renk is posing security challenges to local authorities and humanitarian partners.

The UN peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan (Unmiss) has condemned the recent violence which resulted in a number of civilian casualties in Jonglei State in the east of the country.

Nearly 30 civilians were reportedly killed in an attack on a cattle camp in Duk Padiet County on Thursday, in what was believed to be a cattle raid by suspected armed youth from the Pibor area.

Unmiss did not provide the exact figure of those killed. Authorities in the area said on Sunday that the death toll had risen to at least 28 civilians, according to reports in local media.

It is the first incident of its kind in 2024.

Jonglei and Pibor areas are susceptible to violence, often triggered by cattle raiding and inter-communal revenge killings.

Unmiss says it is engaging the national, state and county authorities in order to "de-escalate the situation". It has also urged the parties involved to cease the violence, avoid reprisal attacks and resort to peaceful means to resolve their grievances.

The Jonglei State and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area authorities should enter into dialogue, bring the perpetrators to justice, and prevent further violence, Unmiss stressed.

Civilians have complained of harassment as soldiers continue to mount unannounced raids on homes and business addresses in South Sudan's capital, Juba.

The army however says its operations have been a success, saying that soldiers have seized thousands of deadly weapons including assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and machetes.

More than 120 Juba residents have formally complained to a local NGO called Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation.

Its boss Edmund Yakani told the BBC that those complaining said security forces stormed their houses without prior notification, saying they were looking for weapons.

Foreign nationals have also complained of being harassed by troops who they say searched their vehicles and accommodation, Mr Yakani added.

An army spokesman apologised "to all those who were negatively affected by the exercise" on Thursday in response to the outcry.

"Special apology goes to members of diplomatic corps, UN, NGOs and other dignitaries for all forms of inconveniences caused," wrote South Sudan People’s Defence Forces spokesman Maj Gen Lul Ruai Koang on Facebook.

Maj Gen Lul Ruai KoangCopyright: Maj Gen Lul Ruai Koang