South Sudan: Situation of civilian population turns worse

Following the expulsion of the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, Toby Lanzer, from South Sudan, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) demands more pressure on the warring parties in the East African country in order to put an end to the continued killings and the mass exodus. "Toby Lanzer had to go because – despite undisguised threats of the authorities – he did not let himself be intimidated and because he continued to draw attention to the terrible suffering of the civilian population in the civil war, which has been going on since December 2013," said Ulrich Delius, the STP’s Africa-expert, in Göttingen on Tuesday. "The fact that this protagonist of humanity was expelled by the political and military leadership of South Sudan is an affront against their own people and against basic humanitarian values." The incident marks a further deterioration of the relations between South Sudan and the UN, since Lanzer would have left the country a few days later anyway in order to take up a new position.

Over the past two weeks, Lanzer and other leading UN officials had pointed out the dramatically deteriorating situation of the civilian population in South Sudan almost every day, calling for more international commitment to end the civil war. The figures are shocking: 1.53 million people are on the run from the fighting in South Sudan – and 546,000 people from South Sudan are trying to find refuge in the neighboring countries. In May 2015 alone, more than 100,000 people fled from a new outbreak of violence in the state of Unity. About 40 percent of the country's population is dependent on humanitarian aid. However, due to the increasing violence, fewer and fewer people can be reached. In May, at least 650,000 civilians have been cut off from humanitarian supplies as a consequence of the fighting. All conflict parties have committed serious human rights violations such as killings, rape, arbitrary arrests and looting – and have so far managed to go unpunished.

On May 26, 2015, the churches in South Sudan issued a joint statement in which they accuse the political and military leaders of their country of not being interested in the dramatic situation of the civilian population. At the end of May, the UN Security Council extended the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force UNMISS until November 30, 2015, and announced additional targeted sanctions against the leaders of the warring factions – but otherwise, there aren’t many reactions to the escalating civil war and the apparent failure of the youngest state in the world.