South Sudan

Thousands of civilians have been killed, often because of their ethnicity or perceived political alliances in South Sudan’s ongoing conflict, which started in December 2013. Fighting has reduced in most parts of the country due to the revitalized peace deal of September 2018, but conflict and related abuses continue in parts of the Equatorias, Greater Upper Nile and Greater Bahr el Ghazal. Large parts of key towns and essential civilian infrastructure such as clinics, hospitals, and schools, have been looted, destroyed, and abandoned. More than 4 million people have been forced to flee their homes, two hundred thousand of whom are sheltering in United Nations compounds and hundreds of thousands as refugees in neighboring countries. Warring parties continue to restrict access for the UN and humanitarian groups to conflict affected areas. The government has become increasingly intolerant and repressive, arbitrarily detaining critics, members of civil society, journalists and politicians often holding them for extended periods, sometimes years without trial. In July the UN imposed an arms embargo. Eight leaders and commanders are subject to individual sanctions. Leaders on all sides have failed to reduce abuses by their forces and hold them to account. Impunity continues to fuel abuses in the conflict.