Top of the Morning: South Sudan Headed for Catastrophe

Top stories from DAWNS Digest

Epic Catastrophe Watch, South Sudan Edition…All the warning signs are there: a conflict in which civilians are increasingly targeted based on their ethnicity; A looming potential famine; and an overwhelmed UN Peacekeeping mission.  Here’s the UN Human Rights chief Navi Pillay, speaking in Juba yesterday:The deadly mix of recrimination, hate speech, and revenge killings that has developed relentlessly over the past four and a half months seems to be reaching boiling point, and I have been increasingly concerned that neither South Sudan’s political leaders nor the international community at large seem to perceive quite how dangerous the situation now is. “  Deeper Dive: Transcript from Navi Pillay’s press statement in Juba, from OHCHR. http://bit.ly/1kk2hgA

It Gets Worse. Pillay also said….

…More than 9,000 children have been recruited as soldiers in South Sudan’s brutal four-month long civil war by both government and rebel forces.  (AFP http://bit.ly/1u5m7UB)

…South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, and rebel leader Riek Machar do not appear concerned about a possible famine in the country. (VOA http://bit.ly/1u5hV7j)