NEW YORK
The UN Security Council expressed concern Wednesday about escalating civil conflict in South Sudan and condemned a decision by its government to expel a senior UN official.
A statement by the 15-member body mentioned a recent World Food Program report that said the young country is facing the worst levels of food insecurity because of a combination of conflict, high food prices and a worsening economic crisis.
Monday's decision to expel Toby Lanzer, the UN's top aid coordinator, immediately following the food agency's report "shows a disregard for the plight of the South Sudanese people and for the essential role the international community, in particular the United Nations, is playing to address the dire humanitarian crisis," the statement said.
South Sudan has been rocked by violence since December 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused his former vice president Riek Machar of standing behind an alleged coup attempt against his regime.
Tens of thousands have been killed in a civil war that continues in spite of an agreement warring sides signed last January in Ethiopia.
In recent weeks, fighting has worsened considerably, with reports of widespread killings, rapes, abductions and the burning and destruction of towns and villages, particularly in northern Unity and Upper Nile states.
"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the repeated violations of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement ... and underscored that there is no military solution to this conflict that is only growing more violent as it nears its 18th month," the Council said, referring to the January 2014 deal.
Heavy fighting in the country's north during the last two months has displaced more than 100,000 people and blocked humanitarian aid deliveries for 650,000 people as aid organizations have been forced to withdraw, the UN said.
