Salva Kiir

Outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Monday 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.

South Sudan rejected today accusations from the UN that its soldiers had raped and killed civilians during and after ethnically-charged fighting last month in the capital Juba.

At least 300 people have been killed in four days of intense gunbattles in the capital of South Sudan and 42,000 have fled the city, the UN said Friday.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir called on arch-rival Riek Machar today to meet for talks to salvage peace after days of intense gun battles in the capital Juba.

The US military in Africa said today it has sent 40 additional soldiers to South Sudan's capital, Juba, to help secure American personnel and facilities in the war-torn city, while South Sudanese trying to flee the country by road reported attacks, killings and robberies by armed men.

Three-quarters of the population of South Sudan needs humanitarian aid after four days of deadly fighting, the UN's World Food Programme director Etharin Cousin told AFP on Tuesday.

Heavy gunfire erupted in South Sudan's capital late on Monday after President Salva Kiir ordered his forces to cease fire and only respond if they came under attack, Reuters witnesses reported.

Heavy fighting erupted again in South Sudan's capital on Monday a day after the UN Security Council told rivals President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar to rein in their forces and end days of violence that have left scores dead.

Soldiers have brought scores of bodies to a hospital in South Sudan's capital after gunfire erupted throughout Juba on Friday evening, a doctor at the hospital said today, as panicked residents worried of a return to civil war.

The world's youngest nation, South Sudan, has cancelled its fifth independence celebrations as it struggles to end a civil war that has left thousands dead and ravaged the economy, the government said on Tuesday.

First they killed her husband. Then, the South Sudanese woman said, government soldiers tied her to a tree and forced her to watch as at least 10 of them raped her 15-year-old daughter.

Warring rivals in South Sudan missed a key deadline today to forge a unity government, with rebels rejecting President Salva Kiir's creation of new regional states as fighting continues.

Pope Francis held a private meeting with South Sudan's President Salva Kiir on Friday, pushing for peace in the world's newest nation that has endured nearly two years of civil war, a Vatican spokesman said.

Up to 16,000 children have been forced to join the fighting in South Sudan since the start of this year, the United Nations children's agency (UNICEF) said today.

Investigators in South Sudan have found the two black boxes from a Soviet-era Antonov plane which crashed last week killing at least 36 people, state radio said today.

Outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Monday 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.

South Sudan rejected today accusations from the UN that its soldiers had raped and killed civilians during and after ethnically-charged fighting last month in the capital Juba.

At least 300 people have been killed in four days of intense gunbattles in the capital of South Sudan and 42,000 have fled the city, the UN said Friday.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir called on arch-rival Riek Machar today to meet for talks to salvage peace after days of intense gun battles in the capital Juba.

The US military in Africa said today it has sent 40 additional soldiers to South Sudan's capital, Juba, to help secure American personnel and facilities in the war-torn city, while South Sudanese trying to flee the country by road reported attacks, killings and robberies by armed men.

Three-quarters of the population of South Sudan needs humanitarian aid after four days of deadly fighting, the UN's World Food Programme director Etharin Cousin told AFP on Tuesday.

Heavy gunfire erupted in South Sudan's capital late on Monday after President Salva Kiir ordered his forces to cease fire and only respond if they came under attack, Reuters witnesses reported.

Heavy fighting erupted again in South Sudan's capital on Monday a day after the UN Security Council told rivals President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar to rein in their forces and end days of violence that have left scores dead.

Soldiers have brought scores of bodies to a hospital in South Sudan's capital after gunfire erupted throughout Juba on Friday evening, a doctor at the hospital said today, as panicked residents worried of a return to civil war.

The world's youngest nation, South Sudan, has cancelled its fifth independence celebrations as it struggles to end a civil war that has left thousands dead and ravaged the economy, the government said on Tuesday.

First they killed her husband. Then, the South Sudanese woman said, government soldiers tied her to a tree and forced her to watch as at least 10 of them raped her 15-year-old daughter.

Warring rivals in South Sudan missed a key deadline today to forge a unity government, with rebels rejecting President Salva Kiir's creation of new regional states as fighting continues.

Pope Francis held a private meeting with South Sudan's President Salva Kiir on Friday, pushing for peace in the world's newest nation that has endured nearly two years of civil war, a Vatican spokesman said.

Up to 16,000 children have been forced to join the fighting in South Sudan since the start of this year, the United Nations children's agency (UNICEF) said today.

Investigators in South Sudan have found the two black boxes from a Soviet-era Antonov plane which crashed last week killing at least 36 people, state radio said today.