1st LD Writethru: UN Security Council to meet in emergency session on South Sudan

The UN Security Council is expected to meet behind closed doors on Sunday afternoon in an emergency session to discuss the current situation in South Sudan, where fighting in the capital Juba has left more than 110 soldiers killed.

The 15-nation UN body is scheduled to start the closed-door meeting at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030GMT) on Sunday at UN Headquarters in New York, the UN Spokesperson's Office told reporters here.

On Saturday, the Security Council "strongly condemned" the fighting in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, between soldiers loyal to the president and first vice president of the world's youngest country.

"The members of the Security Council acknowledged the formation of an investigation committee and urged the Transitional Government of National Unity to quickly investigate these attacks, take steps to end the fighting, reduce tensions, and hold those responsible for the attacks to account," said a press statement issued by the 15-nation UN body.

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.

The country again plunged into conflict in December 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup, which the latter denied, leading to a cycle of retaliatory killings.

President Kiir and former rebel leader and now First Vice President Machar signed a peace deal in August that paved way for the formation of the transitional unity government to end more than two years of civil conflict. Endit