S.Sudan leaders urged to swiftly end political crisis

The UN, humanitarian organizations and the private sectors have called on South Sudan leaders to immediately end 14-month-long conflict in the country that has killed at least 50,000 people and displaced 2.5 million others.

In a joint communique issued in Nairobi, the UN Under Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos and Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Executive Secretary Mahboub Maalim said a political solution to end the fighting is needed without delay and avoid further deterioration of the humanitarian situation.

"We call upon parties to the conflict to put the interests of their people ahead of their own, and re-double efforts to find a political solution to the crisis. We call for an immediate end of the fighting," reads the communique received on Tuesday.

The humanitarian consequences of fighting in South Sudan continue to be grave as 2.5 million people urgently need food, with thousands of children suffering from malnutrition.

"We need the fighting to stop and peace restored. IGAD and the international community must continue to put pressure on the parties to end the violence. The people of South Sudan need to be put first. They must be protected," it said.

According to UN, massive displacement continues, and an estimated 2 million people have fled their homes, half of whom are children. About 1.5 million people are displaced inside South Sudan, with almost 500,000 having fled to neighboring countries.

Both IGAD and UN welcomed commitment of international partners to provide support to the humanitarian response on Monday, brining a total of 618 million U.S. dollars pledged to humanitarian assistance in 2015.

"To maintain the support of an effective response to this, member states and organizations are encouraged to convene another high-level event before the middle of the year," said the communique.

The South Sudan humanitarian response requires 1.8 billion dollars this year to help 4.1 million people. Of this, 600 million dollars is needed by the end of February to preposition supplies and reach people most efficiently, ahead of the rainy season.

The funding pledged on Monday in Nairobi will enable aid organizations to take advantage of road and river access to reach more people in the most cost-effective way, and preposition supplies to enable delivery of aid in the rainy season when roads become impassable.

The UN and IGAD said the generous support of the international community in 2014 enabled aid agencies to reach some 3.6 million people without critical lifesaving assistance.

"It helped avert a famine and curtail a cholera outbreak. Further support is urgently needed to meet people's basic needs and continue the protection of vulnerable groups," they said.

South Sudan plunged into violence in December 2013, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels led by Riek Machar around the capital, Juba. The conflict soon turned into an all-out war between the army and rebels, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension that pitted the president's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.

A cessation of hostilities agreement negotiated by the regional mediators in January has been broken on multiple occasions by both South Sudan's government forces and the opposition. Endit