UN's Ban Ki-moon seeks to boost South Sudan force
Ban Ki-moon: "The world is watching all sides in South Sudan"
The UN secretary general has urged the Security Council to almost double the number of UN troops in South Sudan.
Ban Ki-moon asked for 5,500 police and peacekeepers to add to the 7,000-strong force there, amid escalating violence and allegations of atrocities.
He earlier said anyone responsible for abuse would be held to account.
Tens of thousands of people have fled fighting, as rebels thought to support sacked former vice-president Riek Machar have seized major towns.
His rival, President Salva Kiir, has promised an imminent counter-strike against the rebels
President Kiir, a member of the majority Dinka ethnic group, sacked Mr Machar, who is from the Nuer community, in July.
Last week the president accused Mr Machar of attempting to launch a coup, which he denies.
The fear is that their personal rivalry will spark a full-scale conflict between the Nuer and Dinka groups.
The BBC's James Copnall explains the fighting gripping the world's newest state, South Sudan - in 60 seconds
Mr Ban said attacks on civilians and UN peacekeepers "must cease immediately".
"The United Nations will investigate reports of grave human rights violations and crimes against humanity," he said.
"Those responsible at the senior level will be held personally accountable and face the consequences, even if they claim they had no knowledge of the attacks."
He requested in a letter to the Security Council that 5,500 troops be reassigned from existed UN missions in other African countries, including Liberia and Democratic Republic of Congo.
In addition, he asked for hundreds more police, three attack helicopters, three transport helicopters and one military transport plane.
'Horrible things'Two Indian peacekeepers were killed last week in a rebel raid on a UN compound.
The fighting began in the capital Juba last week after Mr Kiir said he had quashed an attempted coup.
Since then, violence has spread throughout South Sudan, with rebels taking the major towns of Bor and Bentiu.
Between 500 and 1,000 people are thought to have been killed in the fighting and UN compounds are sheltering more than 40,000 civilians.
UN humanitarian co-ordinator Toby Lanzer, who was in Bor over the weekend, told the BBC he had witnessed "some of the most horrible things that one can imagine".
"People who were being lined up and executed in a summary fashion. This is done by people who are simply out of control," Mr Lanzer said.
James Copnall explains the fighting in South Sudan - in 60 seconds
President Kiir told parliament earlier that he was willing to hold talks with Mr Machar, saying that a delegation of East African foreign ministers had offered to mediate.
However, he said that Mr Machar would have to come to the table without any conditions.
Mr Machar told Reuters news agency that he was open to dialogue if his political allies were released from detention.
Over the weekend, the US deployed extra troops to help evacuate Americans and other foreigners.
In Bor, three US military aircraft were fired upon on Saturday, forcing the evacuation to be aborted. On Sunday, the US re-entered using civilian US and UN helicopters.
Sudan suffered a 22-year civil war that left more than one million people dead before the South became independent in 2011.
Sudan's arid north is mainly home to Arabic-speaking Muslims. But in South Sudan there is no dominant culture. The Dinkas and the Nuers are the largest of more than 200 ethnic groups, each with its own languages and traditional beliefs, alongside Christianity and Islam. 
Both Sudan and the South are reliant on oil revenue, which accounts for 98% of South Sudan's budget. They have fiercely disagreed over how to divide the oil wealth of the former united state - at one time production was shutdown for more than a year. Some 75% of the oil lies in the South but all the pipelines run north 
The two Sudans are very different geographically. The great divide is visible even from space, as this Nasa satellite image shows. The northern states are a blanket of desert, broken only by the fertile Nile corridor. South Sudan is covered by green swathes of grassland, swamps and tropical forest. 
After gaining independence in 2011, South Sudan is the world's newest country - and one of its poorest. Figures from 2010 show some 69% of households now have access to clean water - up from 48% in 2006. However, just 2% of households have water on the premises. 
Just 29% of children attend primary school in South Sudan - however this is also an improvement on the 16% recorded in 2006. About 32% of primary-age boys attend, while just 25% of girls do. Overall, 64% of children who begin primary school reach the last grade. 
Almost 28% of children under the age of five in South Sudan are moderately or severely underweight - this compares with the 33% recorded in 2006. Unity state has the highest proportion of children suffering malnourishment (46%), while Central Equatoria has the lowest (17%). 
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