The Russian Foreign Ministry has urged the African state’s rival factions to recommit to a 2018 peace deal
Escalating violence in South Sudan cannot be solved by military force, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has warned. Clashes between the East African country’s government forces and opposition groups have spiralled into a humanitarian and political catastrophe.
Zakharova made the statement during a briefing on Tuesday in Makhachkala, the Republic of Dagestan, which focused on regional and international security issues.
“The sharp deterioration of the situation in South Sudan in recent months is a cause for serious concern,” Zakharova said, noting that the armed confrontations have led to rising casualties, including among civilians.
Fighting has intensified in Africa’s youngest country since early this year, with alarming reports of ethnic-driven violence and breaches of a fragile 2018 peace deal that had once offered a path to unity.
The International Committee of the Red Cross announced on Monday that its medical teams have performed over 1,000 surgeries on weapon-wounded patients in less than three months. More than 130,000 people have reportedly been displaced as airstrikes and fighter jet raids forced residents to flee towns, disrupted humanitarian access, and cut off key trade routes linking South Sudan to neighboring Ethiopia.
READ MORE: UK warns citizens to leave African state
The situation has been further complicated by political upheaval, including the arrest of First Vice President and opposition leader Riek Machar in March.
The landlocked country gained independence from war-torn Sudan in 2011, and has remained unstable since the end of a five-year civil war that erupted in 2013 over a feud between its president, Salva Kiir Mayardit, and Machar.
Machar’s party has warned that his arrest effectively nullifies the 2018 peace agreement that brought the civil war to an end.
Read more A land of mass graves and mercenaries – Can this genocide be stopped?Several Western nations, including the US and the UK, have advised their citizens to leave South Sudan amid growing fears that the country could slide back into full-scale conflict.
On Tuesday, Zakharova reaffirmed Russia’s support for African-led efforts to resolve the crisis in South Sudan, which she noted adds to the existing challenges in neighboring Sudan, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
She urged South Sudanese parties, with backing from their African partners, to “demonstrate political wisdom” and prevent further escalation by recommitting to the framework of the 2018 peace agreement.
“We proceed from the fact that a forceful solution to this conflict is impossible,” Zakharova stated.
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