UN urges action to prevent full civil war in S.Sudan

"We need urgent action to preserve the peace agreement and prevent fragmentation and cycles of retaliation that could herald a return to all-out civil war," Volker Turk said in an address to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Violence has risen in recent weeks as a power-sharing deal between rival generals, Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, has unravelled.

At least 280,000 people have been displaced since December in the worst-hit state, Jonglei.

Turk warned that the situation had deteriorated further in January, as "human rights violations and abuses surged by 45 percent" compared to a month earlier.

Last month alone, he said his office had documented that 189 civilians had been killed and many more injured.

The UN rights chief said he was "horrified" to learn of the attack last weekend by government forces and allied militia on a village in Ayod County in Jonglei.

"Witnesses told my colleagues that troops ordered residents to gather, and then opened fire on the crowd, killing 21 unarmed civilians including women and children," Turk said.

He warned that "military discipline appears to have collapsed" on both sides of the conflict, with troops demonstrating "a near-total disregard for civilian protection".

His team, he said, had recorded a 40-percent increase compared to 2024 in the number of people killed and injured in the conflict last year, to more than 5,100.

Turk decried rampant sexual violence, and said his team had documented "a disturbing increase to 550 in the number of civilians abducted by opposition forces and their allies in 2025".

He voiced particular concern at hate speech and incitement to violence targeting entire communities and ethnic groups in the country.

"In one audio recording authenticated by the UN mission, a senior military official urged his forces to spare no lives, and to destroy civilian homes, livestock, and property," he told the council.

"Acts of hate speech and incitement to violence may amount to international crimes," Turk said, cautioning that "those responsible for such crimes may be prosecuted under international law."

The rights chief also warned that South Sudan had become "extremely dangerous for humanitarian workers", with 350 attacks on staff and facilities last year -- more than one third more than in 2024.