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Germany temporarily closes its embassy in South Sudan amid civil war fears

The German Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday that the embassy had temporarily been closed in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. This was due to rising tensions which have brought this East African nation to the brink of civil war.

Salva Kiir, the president of South Sudan, sacked this week the governor of Upper Nile State, where escalating clashes between government troops, and an ethnic militia he claims is allied with his rival First Vice President Riek Makar, have taken place.

The standoff has raised concerns that the world’s newest nation, which emerged from a civil conflict that claimed hundreds of thousands lives seven years ago, could slip back into conflict.

The German Foreign Ministry wrote that "South Sudan is again on the verge of civil war after years of fragile peace," on x.

"President Kiir, and Vice President Machar, are plunging this country into a spiraling violence." It is their responsibility to stop this senseless violence and finally implement the peace accord.

Nicholas Haysom, the South Sudanese chief of the United Nations peacekeeping force, expressed concern that the country was "on the verge of civil war".

(source: Reuters)