UN chief calls on Security Council to "act now" to halt South Sudan's "trajectory towards mass atrocities"

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called on the UN Security Council to "act now" to halt South Sudan's "trajectory towards mass atrocities" as growing tensions and increasing despair were reported among the people of the world's youngest country.

"It is time to put the people of South Sudan, and not its leaders, at the forefront of any strategy," the secretary-general said at an open meeting of the 15-nation UN body on the current situation in the war-torn African country.

"Instability in South Sudan is also a threat to the region," he said. "I appeal to the Security Council to act, to act now, in fulfilment of its responsibility and in support of ongoing regional efforts."

"We should be united and determined in following through with severe consequences for those who impede the path to peace and stability," Ban said.

Meanwhile, the secretary-general informed the Security Council of reports suggesting that South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and his loyalists are contemplating a new military offensive in the coming days against the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)-In Opposition, as well as of reports that long-time rival Riek Machar and other opposition groups are pursuing a military escalation.

"The responsibility for this tragic state of affairs lies squarely on the shoulders of South Sudan's leaders," he said. "They have betrayed the public trust and continue to show a perverse sense of entitlement, seeking to retain power and wealth at all costs."

Ban said that the parties in South Sudan must be prevented from launching any military operation, particularly with the beginning of the dry season.

"I urge the Security Council, regional leaders and the international community to make it clear to President Kiir and Riek Machar that initiation of a military offensive will carry serious consequences," he said.

"The parties must reinvigorate an inclusive political process that is deemed credible by the people of South Sudan and the international community," Ban said. "Any attempt to rubberstamp the legitimacy of those in power will not bring peace or stability."

"An inclusive and credible process requires all parties to the conflict to have a seat at the negotiating table with the ability to share and exercise power without fear of reprisals," he said.

"South Sudan faces no external threat," he said. "More weapons will only pose a greater threat to its own people. We have repeatedly seen the deliberate targeting of civilian communities perceived to support an opposing side."

He sounded the alarm at the rising ethnic tensions in the country, including increasing hate speech from many in leadership positions as well as the warning from Adama Dieng, the UN special envoy for the prevention of genocide, saying that "I am afraid that process is about to begin unless immediate action is taken."

"The Security Council must (...) send a clear warning that hate speech, incitement and violence must end, and that there will be accountability for mass atrocities and other crimes," he said.

He also told the Council that the UN Mission in the country (UNMISS) continued to face serious restrictions on its freedom of movement throughout the country, and called on the Government to fulfil its pledges of unconditional acceptance of the deployment of the Regional Protection Force.

"Words alone are insufficient," the secretary-general said. "They must be matched by practical actions that demonstrate a strategic shift to fully cooperate with the United Nations and all partners for peace."

South Sudan has faced on-going challenges since a political face-off between President Kiir and rebel leader Machar erupted into full-blown conflict in December 2013. The crisis has produced one of the world's worst displacement situations with immense suffering for civilians.

Despite the August 2015 peace agreement that formally ended the war, conflict and instability have also spread to previously unaffected areas in the Greater Equatoria and Greater Bahr-El-Ghazal regions of South Sudan.

Tens of thousands have been killed and more than two million displaced since late 2013, according to the UN. Enditem