South Sudan has seen an “alarming regression” as clashes in recent weeks in the country’s northeast threaten to undo years of progress towards peace, the United Nations commission on human rights for the country has warned.

The statement on Saturday from Yasmin Sooka, chairperson of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, comes amid a spate of violence between security forces overseen by President Salva Kiir and an armed group his government has alleged is linked to First Vice President Riek Machar.

The situation has put in peril the pair’s fragile power-sharing agreement reached in 2018 to end five years of civil war. It has also sparked fears of war in the country’s Upper Nile state.

“We are witnessing an alarming regression that could erase years of hard-won progress,” Sooka said.

“Rather than fuelling division and conflict, leaders must urgently refocus on the peace process, uphold the human rights of South Sudanese citizens, and ensure a smooth transition to democracy,” Sooka said.

The chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, also expressed “deep concern” on Saturday.

In a statement, he called for an “immediate end to all hostilities.”

Eruption of violence

The latest flare-up began when fighting erupted between the Sudanese armed forces and a group identified by Human Rights Watch (HRW) as an “armed youth militia” in Nasir County in the Upper Nile state in February.

While it remains unclear what started the fighting, HRW noted rumours of forced disarmament may have fueled the unrest. Several clashes have since taken place, with fighters using “heavy weaponry”, according to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). The agency has also reported fighting in Western Equatoria state in the southwestern part of the country.

Earlier this week, South Sudan’s information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, blamed the violence, in part, on the White Army, a Nuer armed group operating in Upper Nile. He accused the group of working in league with Machar’s party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM/IO).

Tensions rose further earlier this week when Kiir ordered the arrests of two officials and several senior military officials allied with Machar. The army also surrounded Machar’s home, effectively putting him under house arrest.

Then on Friday, a UN helicopter attempting to rescue soldiers in the state was attacked, killing one crew member and wounding two others. An army general was also killed in the failed rescue mission, the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said Friday.

Speaking late Friday, Kiir urged calm following the incident.

“The government I lead will handle this crisis. We will remain steadfast on the path of peace,” he said.

‘Reckless power struggles’

South Sudan is the world’s youngest country, having gained independence in 2011.

However, the independence movement, led by Kiir’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), quickly splintered. By 2013, the country had descended into full-scale civil war. The fighting killed more than 400,000 people and displaced more than a million others.

In 2018, the two sides signed the Revitalised Agreement on Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).

The agreement was meant to see the two warring factions unite their armies under a single unit, write a new constitution, prepare for general elections, organise a census and disarm all other armed groups. However, none of the reforms have been instituted.

In the statement released on Saturday, Barney Afako, another member of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, warned observers are witnessing “a return to the reckless power struggles that have devastated the country in the past”.

He said that the South Sudanese had endured “atrocities, rights violations which amount to serious crimes, economic mismanagement, and ever-worsening security”.

“They deserve respite and peace, not another cycle of war,” he said.