**There is international concern over the growing tension in South Sudan as cracks emerge in the country’s ruling coalition.**
Recent clashes in the northeastern Upper Nile State between forces allied to the president and first vice president are threatening a fragile power-sharing agreement.
The unity government, led by President Salva Kiir, with former rebel leader, Riek Machar as First Vice President, was formed in 2018.
This followed a peace deal that ended the country’s five-year civil war that cost nearly 400,000 lives.
An armed group clashed with the country’s army on Tuesday, leading to the arrests of two government ministers and a deputy army chief allied to Machar.
As fears grow of a renewed full-blown civil war, the United States on Sunday ordered all its non-emergency staff to leave South Sudan.
The travel advisory issued said that fighting was ongoing and that “weapons are readily available to the population”.
On Friday a United Nations helicopter came under attack during a rescue mission, which killed a crew member.
The UN Commission on Human Rights in the country on Saturday said it was witnessing an alarming regression that could erase years of hard-won progress.
“Rather than fuelling division and conflict, leaders must urgently refocus on the peace process, uphold the human rights of South Sudanese citizens, and ensure a smooth transition to democracy,” said the chairperson, Yasmin Sooka.