S/SUDAN: Huge death toll estimated for South Sudan war

There’s no doubt that South Sudan’s civil war, which began in December 2013, has caused massive destruction. Several reports have detailed horrific accounts of killings and sexual violence, but it has been hard to get an estimate of the numbers who have died. In 2016, the UN said that 50,000 people had been killed, but […]

There’s no doubt that South Sudan’s civil war, which began in December 2013, has caused massive destruction.

Several reports have detailed horrific accounts of killings and sexual violence, but it has been hard to get an estimate of the numbers who have died.

In 2016, the UN said that 50,000 people had been killed, but now after detailed statistical work, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine estimates that 380,000 people have died as a result of the war.

That figure is made up of nearly 190,000 who died directly as a result of violence and a similar number of people whose deaths can be attributed to the humanitarian crisis that the war has caused.

The report’s authors say it highlights the need for humanitarian workers to be given unhindered access throughout the country.

Earlier this month, President Salva Kiir and his former deputy, Riek Machar, signed a peace agreement but both their rival forces have accused each other of fresh attacks.