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A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 7 OctOber 2020
U.N. report says South Sudan has healed little since civil war

By CARA ANNA and MAU- country from a transitional
RA AJAK government into elections
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — and merges once-warring
South Sudan has made no forces.
concrete steps toward na- South Sudan, the world's
tional healing more than youngest country, has seen
two years after the end of very little peace. It won its
a civil war that killed nearly independence from Sudan
400,000 people and sent in 2011 after years of fight-
more than 2 million people ing and erupted in conflict
fleeing, a new United Na- two years later as support-
tions report says. ers of President Salva Kiir
Now some government and deputy Riek Machar
forces are fueling new fight- began fighting.
ing by arming community Machar is again Kiir's vice
militias with assault rifles, president under the new
rocket-propelled grenades government.
and machine guns to at- Despite the formal end of
tack neighboring commu- the war, vicious fighting
nities, says the report by continues in parts of the
the Commission on Human country including Jonglei
Rights in South Sudan, pre- state, where hundreds of
sented this week to the U.N. people have been killed
Human Rights Council. In this Saturday, June 27, 2020 file photo, trainees for a unified security force parade with the this year. The survivors now
wooden mock guns which they use to train with, during the visit of the defense minister to a mili-
It's a bleak look at what the tary training center in Owiny Ki-Bul, Eastern Equatoria, South Sudan. face flooding that has dis-
authors call "the govern- Associated Press placed more than a half-
ment's manifest lack of po- million people, further im-
litical will to end impunity communal level but driven deal and we are all work- tended in May for another periling food security as
for serious crimes." by national actors who arm ing for it?" He asserted of year. prices rise amid the CO-
The "staggering scale" of ethnic militias and para- the authors: "All these are The new report calls for the VID-19 pandemic and re-
sexual violence, as well as military groups with military- reports written by people government to allocate at strictions on travel.
corruption and the use of grade weapons using the who are seated comfort- least 1% of the country's oil In September, the U.N. sec-
starvation as a weapon of ostensible cover of cattle- ably in Juba hotels. They revenues to reparations to retary-general warned that
conflict, remain dangers in raiding, which in turn leads write such reports to guar- citizens harmed during the South Sudan is one of four
a country ranked as one to reprisals and revenge antee their continuity" in five-year civil war. It also countries that face the risk
of the worst in the world killings – all under the cov- their posts. urges the government to of famine. In Jonglei, he
to live. More than half the er and control of parties In February, the country's ri- establish a Commission on said, the attacks on agri-
population is hungry, and to the conflict in South Su- val leaders formed a coali- Truth, Reconciliation and cultural and pastoral land
COVID-19 is spreading dan," the report says. tion government that many Healing as well as a long- and the looting of livestock
through a nation whose Government spokesman observers prayed would delayed hybrid court to and food has left more
health system was largely Michael Makuei rejected last this time around. But address crimes including than 1.4 million people fac-
shattered. the report, asking, "Why further steps toward peace genocide, war crimes and ing crisis or worse levels of
Instead of peacebuilding should we mobilize militia have fallen behind, and crimes against humanity. acute food insecurity. At
and accountability, "po- against certain mentalities the country remains awash The report also seeks fast- least 350,000 children have
litical violence is spiraling at the time when we have in weapons despite a U.N. er implementation of the severe or moderate acute
out of control at the inter- already signed a peace arms embargo that was ex- peace deal that moves the malnutrition.q

Indian capital launches campaign to curb toxic air pollution

capital is regularly covered air pollution levels over a Among the many Indian
in toxic haze, and warned prolonged period have cities gasping for breath,
that filthy air could make compromised the disease New Delhi tops the list ev-
the coronavirus pandemic resistance of people living ery year. Winters have
more dangerous. in New Delhi, one of the become a time of health
The capital's top elected world's most polluted cities, woes, when the city is cov-
leader, Arvind Kejriwal, said making them more suscep- ered with a toxic haze that
the government will start tible to the coronavirus. obscures the sky and blocks
an anti-dust campaign, Earlier studies have also sunlight. Pollution levels
reduce smoke caused by suggested that high levels soar as farmers in neighbor-
agricultural burning and in- of air pollution can make ing agricultural regions set
troduce a mobile applica- viral infections more dan- fire to clear their land after
tion that will allow citizens gerous. harvests and prepare for
to lodge photo-linked com- It is estimated that more the next crop season.
In this Nov. 1, 2019, file photo, an Indian walks up to the stairs plaints against polluters. than a million Indians die Vehicle and industrial emis-
as Delhi's sky line is seen enveloped in smog and dust in New
Delhi, India. "Polluted air can be life- every year because of air sions, pollutants from fire-
Associated Press threatening in view of the pollution-related diseases. crackers linked to festivals,
COVID-19 pandemic. Both New Delhi has had 285,103 and construction dust also
NEW DELHI (AP) — Authori- on Monday in an attempt affect the lungs," Kejriwal confirmed cases of the sharply increase in winter,
ties in New Delhi launched to curb air pollution levels said. coronavirus, including exacerbating the public
an anti-pollution campaign ahead of winter, when the Health experts say high 5,510 deaths. health crisis.q