3 minutes of readingUpdated: Mar 2, 2026 07:49 pm IST
At least 169 people were killed after insurgents attacked a village in a remote area of South Sudan, a local official said on Monday. It is the latest episode of sporadic violence that has left the country on the brink of a full-blown civil war.
The victims, including 90 civilians, were attacked on Sunday in Abiemnom county, said James Monyluak, information minister for the Ruweng administrative area. He said the dead included women and children, as well as dozens of combatants.
The U.N. Mission in South Sudan, known as UNMISS, said in a statement that 1,000 people sought refuge at its base after the attack. “This violence puts civilians at serious risk and must stop immediately,” UNMISS official Anita Kiki Gbeho said in a statement.
“I urge all those involved to cease hostilities without delay and engage in constructive dialogue to address their grievances.” “Our peacekeepers will continue to do everything in their power to protect civilians seeking refuge at our base,” he added.
The UNMISS statement cited 23 injuries in the attack in Ruweng, as well as concern over “reports that dozens of civilians and some local officials have lost their lives.”
The killings are part of a growing wave of violence sweeping South Sudan as government forces loyal to President Salva Kiir battle gunmen believed to be loyal to opposition leader Riek Machar.
The armed youths who carried out the latest attack are believed to have links to Machar’s group, known as the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition. Machar was Kiir’s deputy until September, when he was removed after facing criminal charges. He is under house arrest in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, as his trial progresses. The United States calls for talks between Kiir and Machar.
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The current violence threatens a fragile peace reached in 2018 after a five-year civil war.
Following that agreement, Machar was named South Sudan’s first vice president in a national unity government. A UN investigation found that South Sudan’s leaders are “systematically dismantling” that agreement. Machar’s supporters say the charges against him for alleged subversion are politically motivated.
His removal from office coincided with a sharp increase in violence. The conflict escalated in December when opposition forces seized government outposts in Jonglei county, an opposition stronghold and a focus of new fighting that the U.N. estimates have displaced 280,000 people.
Aid groups have warned that access restrictions to opposition-held parts of the state are putting civilian lives at risk. The government has carried out a counteroffensive since January with aerial bombardments and ground attacks, despite an official commitment to the peace agreement.
