Sawt Falasteen - South Sudan opposition decries strike as US warns of rise in violence

Clashes between forces allied to President Salva Kiir and his long-time rival, First Vice President Riek Machar, have left their 2018 power-sharing agreement increasingly fragile and threaten to plunge the country back into civil war.

Late Monday, Machar's party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition, said its military cantonment at Wunaliet, around 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the capital Juba, was attacked.

"This provocative action is a violation of the (2018 peace agreement)," said a spokesperson in a statement.

Earlier in the day, a spokesman for the Kiir-aligned army, Lul Ruai Koang, warned that Machar's forces in the area were "scaling up their movements" and had sent out a patrol towards army positions "clearly in military formation".

The army was yet to confirm the later strikes, but local media reported that it consisted of "heavy shelling".

South Sudan is the world's youngest country, having gained independence in 2011.

Soon after, it fell into a five-year civil war between Kiir and Machar that killed some 400,000 people until a peace deal in 2018 brought them into a unity government.

- 'Teetering on the edge' -

The focus of recent clashes has been Nasir County in the northeastern Upper Nile State.

A loose band of armed youth known as the White Army, allied to Machar, overran a military base in Nasir in early March.

The army responded with aerial strikes in nearby areas, including the use of bombs containing a highly flammable liquid that acts as an accelerant upon explosion, according to a statement Monday by Nicholas Haysom, head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

"These indiscriminate attacks on civilians are causing significant casualties and horrific injuries, especially burns," Haysom said, adding that an estimated 63,000 people have been displaced.

Haysom said the country was "teetering on the edge of a relapse into civil war".

Analysts say Kiir has been taking steps in recent months to sideline Machar, promoting new members to the cabinet without consultation as the 73-year-old prepares his succession.

Last week, he replaced the Machar-allied governor of Upper Nile State with one of his own allies.

Machar's party says 22 of its political and military members have been detained since February, including Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chol and deputy army chief General Gabriel Duop Lam.

On Monday, the United States State Department said Kiir and Machar "must engage in direct dialogue to curb escalating violence in South Sudan".

"Non-state militia attacks, govt-backed airstrikes, and promotion of sanctioned officials to high office are deeply concerning," it said in a statement on X.

South Sudan is already one of the poorest countries in the world, and UNICEF said Monday that it is suffering its worst cholera outbreak since independence, with almost 700 deaths in six months, including many children.

L.AbuTayeh--SF-PST