UN reports a 35% increase in people affected by violence in South Sudan

By DENG MACHOL
Associated Press

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — The United Nations says the number of people affected by violence in South Sudan surged by 35% in the last three months of 2023. The U.N. Mission in South Sudan documented 233 incidents of violence affecting 862 people, including 406 deaths, during that period. South Sudan is to hold elections later this year, the first since a 2018 peace deal between President Salva Kiir and his former rival, Riek Machar, that ended a five-year conflict that killed hundreds of thousands. Violence caused by ethnic tensions and disputes over resources such as land has increased in various parts of the country in recent months, particularly in the oil-rich region of Abyei.