UNITED NATIONS, October 22 (RIA Novosti) – UN Envoy to South Sudan Ellen Margrethe Loj urged the international community Wednesday to continue with their efforts to push for a compromise between the warring parties in the country.
"I call on the [UN] Security Council, regional leaders and all friends of this young nation to remain fully engaged with the warring parties so that they make the necessary compromise required to translate their public statements of commitment to peace into actions on the ground. The people of South Sudan deserve no less," Loj said.
"No amount of aid can solve the crisis or convince people to return home, only peace and reconciliation can and, sadly, in the absence of both, the aid operation will have to be sustained if we are to continue to prevent the humanitarian situation from further deteriorating," Loj told the UN Security Council.
According to the UN envoy, "over 1.8 million people have been displaced" by the continuing fighting in South Sudan and "around 4 million people, close to a third of the population, are facing serious food insecurity".
Violence erupted in South Sudan between the government and the opposition in December, when the country's president, Salva Kiir, accused his ex-deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the civil war.
