Atmosphere of fear in S.Sudan town of Bor– UN

Juba. A UN official in South Sudan has spoken of an atmosphere of fear and desperation as violence escalates.Humanitarian Co-ordinator Toby Lanzer told the BBC about summary executions in Bor, in the restive state of Jonglei that has fallen to rebels.The UN mission in South Sudan has urged rival political leaders to agree a truce and open negotiations.Clashes broke out between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and others backing his former deputy a week ago.Mr Lanzer says people are clamouring to get into the UN compound in Bor as the violence escalates.“When I ended up moving to the airport [Sunday] evening, we saw some of the most horrible things that one can imagine.“People were being lined up and executed in a summary fashion. This is done by people who are simply out of control,” Mr Lanzer told Newshour.Meanwhile the US said it had evacuated its citizens from Bor.Four US service personnel were wounded on Saturday when their aircraft were shot at, delaying an evacuation operation.US President Barack Obama said he may “take further action to support the security of US citizens, personnel and property, including our embassy, in South Sudan”.Earlier the South Sudanese army confirmed that Bentiu, the capital of oil-rich Unity State, had also fallen to troops supporting former Vice-President Riek Machar.President Salva Kiir has accused Mr Machar of attempting a coup. Mr Lanzer, who spent several days in Bor, said the problem of people seeking refuge was growing daily.“I’m quite concerned that in a few days’ time we won’t be talking about tens of thousands, we’ll be talking about hundreds of thousands directly affected,” he said.“It’s really very moving to see people just asking: ‘Can you please keep me alive?’”