South Sudan sees hunger approaching record levels despite peace deal
A record number of nearly 7 million people are facing severe hunger in South Sudan despite a peace agreement that has largely stopped fighting after more than five years of war, U.N. agencies warned Friday. "Every year, hunger reaches new and unprecedented levels in South ...
Japan extends SDF dispatch to U.N. peacekeeping mission HQ in South Sudan
Japan decided Friday to extend by another year, through May 31, 2020, the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces personnel to the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. The move came after the U.N. Security Council extended in March the mandate of the mission ...
South Sudanese parties agree on six more months to form unity government
South Sudan's ruling and opposition parties agreed on Friday to give themselves six more months to form a unity government as part of a peace deal they signed in September, the regional group IGAD said in a statement. Also on Friday, President Salva Kiir lifted ...
Finland tops global happiness index for second year, while Japan slips to 58th place
Finland has topped an index of the happiest nations for the second consecutive year, with researchers saying the small Nordic country of 5.5 million has succeeded in generating a happiness recipe for a balanced life not simply dependent on economic and material wealth. The World ...
Western 'troika' powers warn of surge in violence in South Sudan
The United States, Britain and Norway on Wednesday voiced alarm over a new flare-up of violence in South Sudan, saying all sides needed to show their commitment to peace. The three powers, the so-called troika that has led diplomacy and aid efforts aimed at stabilizing ...
Deadly Ebola outbreak in Congo puts South Sudan on high alert: U.N.
The United Nations and South Sudan are taking extreme precautions to prevent any spread of Ebola from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, which is battling the second-biggest ever outbreak of the disease. The U.N. and local authorities have made "a huge number of preparatory steps," ...
Wrapping an arm around her stomach, the young woman hung her head and recounted the day in early November when she and a friend were bound, dragged into the bush and raped by four men with guns. "My body hasn't been the same since," the ...
U.N. condemns 'brutal' sexual attacks on 125 women and girls in state-controlled area of South Sudan
The United Nations condemned on Sunday a wave of "brutal" sexual attacks on women and girls in the northern town of Bentiu in South Sudan that took place in what it described as a government controlled area of the region. On Friday, the aid agency ...
125 women and girls said to have been raped, whipped and clubbed in South Sudan
One hundred and twenty-five women and girls have been raped, whipped and clubbed in attacks so shocking that some aid workers in South Sudan say they are left speechless. Doctors Without Borders on Saturday said the "dramatic increase" in sexual violence occurred over 10 days, ...
Girls are the primary victims of humanitarian crises, suffering forms of abuse ranging from forced marriage to denial of schooling and are "14 times more likely to die than boys in a conflict," according to the Plan International nongovernmental organization. The group was scheduled to ...
Cease-fire monitors accuse South Sudan and rebels of killing civilians
South Sudan's army massacred civilians, burned children alive and gang-raped women after a supposed cease-fire with rebels in December, according to reports by monitors appointed by the country's East African neighbors over a five-year civil war. South Sudan, which won independence from Sudan in 2011, ...
Dispatch of SDF members to U.N. Mission in South Sudan extended until May 2019
The government said Friday it has extended the dispatch of four Self-Defense Forces members to the headquarters of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan through May 31 next year. Japan ended its five-year deployment of Ground Self-Defense Force civil engineering units to the ...
