Uptick in Violence in Southern Sudan Worries U.N.

AFP notes that a recent surge of violence in southern Sudan's Jongei State has increased insecurity in the region, and worries United Nations officials concerned about its ramifications for humanitarian access. There are reports of up to 750 deaths due to cattle raiding between rival groups, according to Geoff Wordley, the assistant representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in south Sudan. Wordley also told AFP, "We have seen a number of disturbing and alarming events in terms of security in recent weeks."

Such instances of violence highlight the intense fragility of peace in southern Sudan, a region that was ravaged by decades of civil war and is at great risk in the wake of the government's obstruction of crucial aspects of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

• Sudan and South Sudan