About 300,000 people have fled South Sudan so far in 2025 as armed conflict between rival leaders threatens civil war, the United Nations warns.
The mass displacement was reported on Monday by the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan. The report cautioned that the conflict between President Salva Kiir and suspended First Vice President Riek Machar risks a return to full-scale war.
The commission’s report called for an urgent regional intervention to prevent the country from sliding towards such a tragic event.
South Sudan has been beset by political instability and ethnic violence since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011.
The country plunged into civil war in 2013 when Kiir dismissed Machar as vice president. The pair agreed a ceasefire in 2017, but their fragile power-sharing agreement has been unravelling for months and was suspended last month amid outbreaks of violence among forces loyal to each.
Machar was placed under house arrest in March after fighting between the military and an ethnic Nuer militia in the northeastern town of Nasir killed dozens of people and displaced more than 80,000.
He was charged with treason, murder and crimes against humanity in September although his lawyer argued the court lacked jurisdiction. Kiir suspended Machar from his position in early October.
Machar rejects the charges with his spokesman calling them a “political witch-hunt”.
Renewed clashes in South Sudan have driven almost 150,000 people to Sudan, where a civil war has raged for two years, and a similar number into neighbouring Uganda, Ethiopia and as far as Kenya.
More than 2.5 million South Sudanese refugees now live in neighbouring countries while two million remain internally displaced.
The commission linked the current crisis to corruption and lack of accountability among South Sudan’s leaders.
“The ongoing political crisis, increasing fighting and unchecked, systemic corruption are all symptoms of the failure of leadership,” Commissioner Barney Afako said.
“The crisis is the result of deliberate choices made by its leaders to put their interests above those of their people,” Commission Chairwoman Yasmin Sooka said.
A UN report in September detailed significant corruption, alleging that $1.7bn from an oil-for-roads programme remains unaccounted for while three-quarters of the country faces severe food shortages.
Commissioner Barney Afako warned that without immediate regional engagement, South Sudan risks catastrophic consequences.
“South Sudanese are looking to the African Union and the region to rescue them from a preventable fate,” he said.