At least 24 people have been killed in clashes in South Sudan during the week, the UN warns. It is primarily civilians who have lost their lives when the rebel group National Salvation Front (NSF) and government-loyal forces have clashed.
According to the country's peace minister Gerald Francis, two attacks took place in separate areas.
Armed individuals targeted young people and shot at them, while others were hacked with machetes and murdered in cold blood, he says, describing the event as a 'terrible massacre'.
The world's youngest nation, South Sudan, has been plagued by instability since its independence in 2011. A civil war raged between 2013 and 2018, during which an estimated 400,000 people were killed and millions were forced to flee.
Last month, the country postponed its already delayed presidential election by two years. South Sudan has thus still not managed to hold a presidential election since its independence.
