UN appeals for funds, relief access to S. Sudanese in need of aid

UN top relief official on Sunday called for immediate and unhindered access to South Sudanese in need of aid and urgent funding for the humanitarian appeal. Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said the UN urgently need additional funding to scale up, sustain and expand life-saving assistance and protection across all of South Sudan.

Sudan: UN Independent Expert to follow up on recommendations by the UN human rights system

The United Nations Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Sudan, Aristide Nononsi, will carry out his third mission to the country from 10 to 22 February 2017 to assess the efforts undertaken by the Sudanese Government to comply with its international human rights obligations. “I will follow up on the implementation by the Government of the Sudan of its human rights obligations, in light of the recommendations made to the Sudan by all human rights mechanisms, including those contained in my report of September 2016 to the Human Rights Council,” Mr. Nononsi said.

UN warns risk of famine is real in South Sudan

The UN humanitarian agency has warned that the risk of famine in South Sudan is real for thousands of people in conflict-affected communities and food deficit areas. In its latest report which cited food security and livelihoods experts, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said South Sudanese are likely to face extreme levels of food insecurity in an extended lean season from February to July 2017.

UN report says numerous abuses have occurred in South Sudan

South Sudanese government and opposition soldiers “blatantly ignored” international law during clashes in July that killed hundreds of people, according to a United Nations human rights investigation. The South Sudanese military swarmed throughout the capital with house-to-house searches and used language tests to identify civilians from different tribes, at times executing them on the spot, said the investigation by the U.N. Human Rights Office and the U.N. mission in South Sudan.

Eight dead in suspected Sudan cholera outbreak: report

Eight people have died and 342 infected at several Sudanese states in a second wave of a suspected cholera outbreak within five months, said a report by the independent Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors. The report, which was seen by Sudan Tribune on Monday, said the preliminary tests of diarrhea samples proved they were cholera cases, pointing such cases are usually confirmed by a reference laboratory and announced by the Department of Epidemiology at the Health Ministry.

Juba University lecturers strike over detained colleagues

Academic lecturers have indefinitely suspended lessons at the South Sudan’s main University of Juba in protest to arbitrary detention of two academics. Academic staff president Philip Finish Apollo and natural resources lecture Zuher Sule were arrested on Thursday for holding a “secret meeting” after being suspended from the university by Vice Chancellor Prof.

UN chief warns of South Sudan genocide unless world acts

In this Feb. 25, 2016, file photo, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks to the media in Juba, South Sudan. Ban warned Monday, Dec. 19, that South Sudan will be heading toward genocide unless immediate action is taken to impose an arms embargo and pressure leaders of the world’s newest nation to end hate speech, incitement and violence.

A rare view from inside South Sudan’s most-feared prison

More than 30 political detainees in South Sudan’s most notorious prison face torture, starvation or death, according to a Danish man detained alongside them for over two months before being released in late November. Henrik Tobiesen, a businessman and former United Nations de-mining worker who had lived in South Sudan for 11 years, told The Associated Press he was locked up for 67 days starting Sept.