Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has accused South Sudan's government of refusing to express "any meaningful concern" about the plight of 100,000 people suffering from famine, 7.5 million in need of humanitarian aid and thousands more fleeing fighting.
The UN chief delivered a sharp rebuke to the country's president, Salva Kiir, saying that most often the international community hears denials "a refusal by the leadership to even acknowledge the crisis or to fulfil its responsibilities to end it."
Guterres told the Security Council that Kiir's intention to hold a national dialogue "is not convincing" in the absence of consultation with opponents, the "systematic curtailment of basic political freedoms, and restrictions on humanitarian access."
There were high hopes that South Sudan would have peace and stability after its independence from neighbouring Sudan in 2011. But the country plunged into ethnic violence in December 2013 when forces loyal to Kiir, a Dinka, started battling those loyal to Riek Machar, his former vice president who is a Nuer.
A peace deal signed in August 2015 has not stopped the fighting and the three-year civil war has devastated the country, killed tens of thousands, and contributed to a recently declared famine in two counties.
The United Nations has a 12,000-strong peacekeeping mission in South Sudan and the Security Council last year approved an additional 4,000 peacekeepers from the region to help protect civilians after a series of reported gang-rapes and other assaults when fighting erupted in Juba last July.
Guterres said the UN continues to work for the deployment of the regional force and restoration of the peace process, but he stressed that "no such force, and no amount of diplomacy, can substitute for the lack of political will among those who govern the country."
"There is a strong consensus that South Sudanese leaders need to do more to demonstrate their commitment to the well-being of the country's people, who are among the poorest in the world," the secretary-general said.
Guterres said greater pressure is needed if there is any hope of the leaders changing their approach, which means "first and foremost that the region and the Security Council must speak with one voice.
At the moment, the council and the region remain divided over two key ways to step up pressure an arms embargo and slapping sanctions on additional people blocking peace.
Guterres urged leaders from countries in the regional group IGAD who will be meeting in Nairobi in two days and council members to support three objectives: achieving an immediate cessation of hostilities, restoring the peace process which means consulting and ensuring representation of the opposition, and ensuring unrestricted humanitarian access.
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