1st LD: UN chief "deeply alarmed" by current fighting in capital of South Sudan

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday said that he was "deeply alarmed" by the ongoing fighting in Juba, capital of South Sudan, between soldiers of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the SPLA in opposition, and he urged an immediate end to the current conflict in the world's youngest country.

"This outbreak of hostilities in the capital, on the eve of the country's fifth anniversary of independence, is yet another illustration of the parties' lack of serious commitment to the peace process and represents a new betrayal of the people of South Sudan, who have suffered from unfathomable atrocities since December 2013," said a statement issued here by Ban's spokesman.

"I urge President Kiir and First Vice-President Riek Machar to put an immediate end to the ongoing fighting, discipline the military leaders responsible for the violence and finally work together as partners to implement the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan," the secretary-general said in the statement.

South Sudan has canceled this year's independence celebrations due to the economic crunch resulting from more than two years of civil conflict. It won independence on July 9, 2011 from Sudan after more than two decades of war that ended in a bitter divorce. Enditem