AU chief condemns renewed fighting in South Sudan at Kigali summit

The Chairperson of the African Union, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has expressed concern over the resurgence of conflict in the continent’s youngest country South Sudan. Speaking at the opening of the 29th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union on Tuesday, Dlamini-Zuma said that African will not look on as people of South Sudan continue to suffer. “The AU Summit starts with resurgence of conflict in South Sudan. As a continent we must respect the lives of our people and cannot stand by as people in South Sudan continue to suffer by unimaginable proportions,” she said at the session held at Kigali Convention Centre. Fighting between rival military factions loyal to President Salva Kiir and his first vice president, Riek Machar, broke out towards the end of last week and continued into the weekend. According to Dlamini-Zuma, African countries should live by the commitment they made three years ago, when the 54-member continental bloc celebrates 50 years of establishment, a commitment to end conflict. “We made a solemn promise during the celebration for anniversary to not bequeath conflict to our future generations and we must live up to it,” she said. Ceasefire holding Meanwhile, agencies report that a fragile ceasefire appeared to be holding in South Sudans capital Juba after four days of gun battles that have left hundreds dead and sent nearly thousands fleeing. By Tuesday evening, there were no helicopter gunships in the sky, no tanks on the streets, no artillery barrages and soldiers in their machine gun-mounted pick-up trucks appeared to have stayed in their barracks. The calm was welcomed by Juba residents who have mostly stayed indoors for days as fighting intensified between Kiirs government forces and former rebels loyal to Machar. The situation is quiet near the airport, said local resident August Mayai. There are people in the streets. Traders returning to once-busy markets found their shops and stalls looted. Volunteers and officials from South Sudans Red Cross set about the grim task of collecting bodies of the dead. There has been no estimate so far of civilian or military casualties from the heavy clashes Sunday and Monday but Adama Dieng, the United Nations Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, said some civilians were reportedly targeted based on their ethnicity. Kiir is from the Dinka tribe and Machar is a Nuer. South Sudans civil war has been characterised by ethnic massacres between the two groups -- including in Juba -- as well as rape, sexual slavery, murder and the use of child soldiers. Alarm over aid The head of the UN food agency said 75 percent of the population needed humanitarian aid after the fighting, adding that the World Food Programme had over 2,000 people taking shelter inside our compound with our staff. Three quarters of the population of South Sudan is in need of humanitarian assistance, WFP chief Ertharin Cousin told AFP in Amman. This latest conflict is going to push even more people into hunger and despair, she warned. The recent fighting began in earnest on Friday evening -- killing over 300 soldiers that day alone, according to government estimates -- then paused on Saturday, the countrys fifth anniversary of independence. Intense fighting resumed on Sunday. The violence has raised fears of a return to the civil war that broke out in December 2013. An August 2015 peace deal was supposed to end the conflict but has so far failed to do so, despite the return of rebel leader Machar in April to join a government of national unity alongside his enemy Kiir. On Monday evening Kiir and then Machar both ordered ceasefires after a chorus of condemnation from the United Nations, regional bloc IGAD, the United States and others. Anything can happen Despite the pause in fighting Juba remains on tenterhooks. We are on the lookout because anything can happen, said one resident who did not want to be named. Weve had the same situation before: we thought it was going to be fine, and it wasnt. Rashid Abdi, an analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank in Nairobi, shared that scepticism. Any cessation of fighting activities, even for a day, is welcome, he said. But whether the ceasefire will hold is another discussion. The impact of the days of violence on an already weak and scarcely implemented peace deal remains to be seen. At least 36,000 people have fled their homes in Juba since Friday, according to UN figures, with many heading for United Nations bases seeking refuge.

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AU chief condemns renewed fighting in South Sudan at Kigali summit