WASHINGTON, 31 March 2022, (TON): The United States expressed concern over growing tensions in South Sudan, and called on all parties to respect a 2018 peace agreement, after the opposition withdrew from a body overseeing the process.

The world’s newest nation has struggled to draw a line under a five-year civil war that ended in 2018, with former rivals President Salva Kiir and his Vice President Riek Machar unable to agree on the implementation of the deal they signed.

Earlier this month, Machar’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition  announced its withdrawal from a body overseeing the peace process over “unprovoked” attacks on its bases by its “peace partner”.

The decision is the latest blow to the country’s shaky prospects for stability, deepening fissures between factions loyal to Machar and Kiir. In a statement, US State Department spokesman Ned Price deplored the recent clashes in Upper Nile State and the SPLM/A-IO’s withdrawal from the body, which “undermines the peace agreement.”

He said “we call for both sides to observe fully their obligations under the existing peace agreement and note that inflammatory rhetoric is counterproductive and should cease immediately.”