The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has reported heavy fighting between the government troops and armed youth in the town of Nassir in Upper Nile state, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here Friday.
"The armed youth were seen retreating to the east," Xinhua quoted the spokesman as saying at a daily news briefing here.
"The same day, the mission received reports of fighting between the government troops and opposition forces about 40 km southeast of Renk in Upper Nile state," he said.
On Thursday, Ellen Margrethe Loej, the UN secretary-general's special representative for South Sudan, said in the capital, Juba, that leaders on both sides of the conflict must inject "a new sense of urgency" into the peace process in order to reach a comprehensive peace agreement as soon as possible as the international community's patience with both parties is "wearing thin".
"The mandate of the mission was recently renewed and remains unchanged from the previous one. I believe it is fair to say that its member states were sending both warring parties a clear message when the UN Security Council voted to streamline UNMISS operations earlier this year," said Loej, who is also the head of the UNMISS.
Political in-fighting between South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and his former deputy, Riek Machar, started in December 2013 and subsequently turned into a full-fledged conflict.