Violence displaces 120,000 across South Sudan: UN

A new UN report says the violence in South Sudan has displaced more than 120,000 people, as fighting flares across the African country.

The United Nations said in a report on Friday that about half of the displaced people were sheltering at its camps in Juba and several other cities.

It says aid agencies working there need more than USD 150 million to save people’s lives. The world body also called for negotiations to end the deadly violence in South Sudan.

Meanwhile, Hilde Johnson, head of the UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), says “over 1,000” people have been killed since the beginning of the violence in South Sudan on December 15.

This comes as leaders from East African countries are meeting in Kenya to find a solution to the ongoing crisis.

The talks in the Kenyan capital Nairobi will focus on some issues raised during a meeting in South Sudan a day earlier.

On Thursday, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir met leaders of neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia in an effort to end the growing violence in the country.

Fighting has gripped South Sudan for nearly two weeks, after the government accused former vice president Riek Machar, who was sacked in July, of attempting to stage a coup.

The government in Juba has been grappling with rampant corruption, unrest and conflict in the deeply impoverished but oil-rich nation.