A UN-backed human rights commission warned Thursday that South Sudan risks deepening humanitarian crisis and further atrocity crimes unless fighting stops, as the country approaches its first national elections since independence.
The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said multiple risk factors for atrocity crimes are converging and the window to prevent a return to mass violence is narrowing. "Rushing to elections" without essential safeguards risks deepening existing conflicts and increasing the danger of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing, the Commission said.
Armed conflict has resumed in Upper Nile, Jonglei and Unity states, with civilian deaths also recorded in Western and Central Equatoria states. The Commission recorded 407 ceasefire violations from August 2025 to January 2026. It cited renewed armed conflict, weakened institutions, entrenched impunity, exclusionary governance, corruption, shrinking civic space and inflammatory rhetoric as chief problems.
Nearly half the provisions of a 2018 peace agreement have not been implemented, including the unification of security forces, the Commission said. At the same time, mechanisms that could mitigate atrocity risks—including ceasefire monitoring, independent justice institutions and inclusive political dialogue—have been weakened or suspended, it added. Significant sections of the population remain excluded from meaningful political participation.
The Commission, established in 2016 and renewed annually, said South Sudan is "at one of its most dangerous points" 15 years after independence. The panel's commissioners said South Sudanese citizens have waited 15 years for the right to cast their first ballots through free, peaceful and democratic elections. "An election cannot be credible simply because it is held on schedule," one commissioner said.
