At least 178 people have been killed in a massacre in Abiemnom County in the Ruweng Administrative Area of South Sudan, raising fears that the country may be sliding back into widespread conflict.
Local authorities reported that the death toll rose on March 3 after additional victims died from their injuries in hospital. A day earlier, 169 bodies had been buried in a mass grave. Among the victims were 90 civilians, including women, children, and elderly residents, as well as local officials and dozens of security personnel.
According to officials, armed fighters from Mayom County in neighboring Unity State attacked a village in Abiemnom in the early hours of the morning while residents were asleep. The attackers reportedly burned homes and markets while government forces engaged them in several hours of fighting before reinforcements arrived.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said tensions in the area had already been rising in the days before the attack. On February 28, around 1,000 civilians reportedly gathered near a UN base seeking protection.
Local officials have accused fighters linked to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), led by former vice president Riek Machar, of carrying out the assault. The group is a rival faction to the ruling party of President Salva Kiir.
Fragile peace under strain
The attack comes amid growing instability following the weakening of the 2018 peace agreement between Kiir and Machar, which ended nearly five years of civil war.
Both leaders were once senior figures in the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, the movement that led the decades-long struggle for independence from Sudan. After South Sudan became independent in 2011, Kiir became president while Machar served as vice president.
However, political rivalry between the two leaders escalated into open conflict in 2013 after Machar was dismissed from office. Fighting between forces aligned with Kiir and Machar quickly developed into a brutal civil war, often along ethnic lines, primarily between the Dinka and Nuer communities.
The war killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced millions before a peace agreement in 2018 led to the formation of a transitional unity government in 2020, with Machar returning as first vice president.
Uncertain political future
The transitional government was tasked with unifying rival armed forces and preparing for national elections. However, progress has been slow, and the planned vote has been repeatedly postponed—most recently to December 2026.
The recent violence in Abiemnom has intensified concerns that unresolved political tensions and local conflicts could unravel the fragile peace and push the world’s youngest nation back toward a broader civil war.
