Kerry warns of famine and genocide in South Sudan
Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday warned that South Sudan is edging closer to genocide and famine, lending urgency to the Obama administration's decision-making about when to impose sanctions against the warring factions in the world's newest nation.
Kerry, speaking from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, described "very disturbing" signs of escalation in the the conflict between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels backing former vice president Riek Machar.
Both sides are implicated in atrocities such as rapes, massacres, using child soldiers and staging attacks on U.N. bases. UNICEF has warned that some 50,000 children could die of malnutrition this year as a result of the conflict.
"Leadership is needed," Kerry said, calling on Kiir and Machar to condemn the violence and work toward peace.
"Yesterday, the United Nations commissioner was here, spoke out about the potential of famine," Kerry said. "I would echo those warnings, but more so I would even go further and underscore that a kind of personal violence, a personal anger between two leaders, should never be permitted to take an entire nation in the direction that South Sudan is currently spiraling downwards."
U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay wrapped up a three-day tour to South Sudan - a visit at the request of Secretary General Ban Ki Moon - with blistering criticism of Kiir and Machar.
"The deadly mix of recrimination, hate speech, and revenge killings that has developed relentlessly over the past four and a half months seems to be reaching boiling point," she told reporters in Juba.
The U.S. was instrumental in helping South Sudan gain independence from Khartoum in 2011, and Kerry's visit to the region has been taken as a sign of growing unease in Washington over how the country has collapsed in such a short period time.Thousands of people have already been killed -- and possibly tens of thousands -- with at least 1.2 million people forced to flee their homes in the the world's newest country.
This story was originally published May 1, 2014 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Kerry warns of famine and genocide in South Sudan."