Tuesday, January 21, 2014

South Sudan president hits out at UN

South Sudan President Salva Kiir hits out at UN

Souht Sudan's President Salva Kiir in Juba, 20 January 2014 Salva Kiir also accused humanitarian group of aiding the rebels

South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit has accused the UN peacekeeping mission of acting like a "parallel government" in his country.

The UN had only fallen short of naming the chief of UN mission "co-president", he said in a national TV address.

More than 70,000 civilians are seeking shelter at UN bases across the country following an outbreak of hostilities a month ago.

The UN says both government soldiers and rebels have committed atrocities.

What started out as a political fallout between Mr Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar on 15 December has escalated into full-scale conflict.

The BBC's Mark Lowen in a hospital in Bor: "Rebels shot patients in their beds"

Around 500,000 people have been displaced and the UN estimates that considerably more than 1,000 have been killed.

The UN is in the process of deploying an extra 5,500 peacekeepers to South Sudan to bring its forces up to 12,500.

In his speech, Mr Kiir also accused other humanitarian organisations of supporting Mr Machar.

His comments came after after his forces recaptured the town of Bor from rebel forces over the weekend.

The South Sudanese army also says it has recaptured the key town of Malakal after days of heavy fighting, though this is disputed by the rebels.

Talks to try to find a ceasefire are continuing in Ethiopia.

map Fighting erupted in the South Sudan capital, Juba, in mid-December. It followed a political power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his ex-deputy Riek Machar. The squabble has taken on an ethnic dimension as politicians' political bases are often ethnic.
News graphic showing the ethnic groups of South Sudan 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.
Map showing the location of oil fields in South Sudan 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
Map showing the geography of South Sudan 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.
Map showing access to water in South Sudan 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.
Map showing education levels in South Sudan 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.
Map showing food insecurity rates in South Sudan 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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