Renegade General Shows the Perils in South Sudan Peace Plans
- Deal between president, main rebel may not end 5 years of war
- Chorus of warnings that accord is at high risk of collapsing
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As South Sudan’s main combatants prepare to join forces to end a brutal five-year civil war, recent fighting involving a renegade military officer suggests the conflict may be far from over.
Thousands of civilians have fled their homes in Yei state in the southwest of the country this year, witnesses to alleged murders, rape and looting as government troops battle an insurgency led by former Lieutenant-General Thomas Cirillo. Refusing to back a September peace deal signed by President Salva Kiir and main rebel chief Riek Machar, he accuses both of failing to address the personal and ethnic rivalries behind the war that’s claimed almost 400,000 lives.