UN condemns South Sudan leadership

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Elisabeth Janaina

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Mar 9, 2017, 5:03:49 AM3/9/17

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UN condemns South Sudan leadership

Posted at09:00 AP

A bitter rivalry between President Salva Kiir (R) and his former deputy Riek Machar (L) plunged the country into civil war

The UN's representative in South Sudan has said the country's leaders are failing their people and neglecting their duty.David Shearer said the politicians seemed more interested in their own intrigues than ensuring food and medical care reached a population beset by famine and civil war.

He added that but for international aid tens of thousands more South Sudanese would be dead. But Mr Shearer repeated what the UN Secretary General had said on Wednesday that though there was localised fighting between ethnic groups, there was no signs yet of a genocide in South Sudan.

The South Sudanese government has raised the cost of a work permit for a foreign aid worker from $100 to $10,000.

The BBC's Alastair Leithead has been speaking to people in the south-western town of Yei, who have been giving harrowing testimony of what they allege happened to them and their relatives at the hands of government soldiers. The army denies that civilians have been targeted in the conflict.