US ambassador in South Sudan summoned over comments on ceasefire violations

South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry on Friday summoned the top US diplomat in the country to a meeting after he claimed that the government violated a ceasefire agreement in Unity State, Voice of America reported today.

South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry on Friday summoned the top US diplomat in the country to a meeting after he claimed that the government violated a ceasefire agreement in Unity State, Voice of America reported today.

Voice of America reported, “On Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Michael McCarthy, the U.S. charge d’affaires in South Sudan, to discuss his statement in a radio interview last week saying both sides violated the cessation of hostilities in Unity state.”

McCarthy had reportedly told the UN Radio Miraya that there are credible reports that of a large number of newly displaced people and repeated stories of entire villages being destroyed as a result of violence in Unity State. He called for the need to investigate what has happened and for the violence to stop.

“There’s no military solution to this problem, so why keep fighting?” McCarthy said, as quoted by VOA. “Let’s silence the guns.”

Photo: South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial

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