Monitors recorded 407 alleged ceasefire violations between August 2025 and January 2026 as South Sudan’s fragile peace agreement came under increasing strain amid renewed clashes and rising insecurity, the country’s ceasefire monitoring body said Thursday.
Teshome Anagawe Ayana, chairperson of the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism, told a technical committee meeting in Juba that the 2018 peace deal is “under significant strain,” with the permanent ceasefire not consistently holding across several regions.
He said the agreement remains the only viable framework for sustainable peace in South Sudan but warned that its durability depends on renewed commitment and full compliance by the signatory parties.
“Agreements are upheld not by signatures, but through consistent compliance. Protection of civilians must be unconditional, and ceasefire adherence must be uniform,” Ayana said.
Ayana described violence in Nasir in March 2025 as a turning point, saying insecurity has since expanded across Upper Nile, Unity, Western Bahr el Ghazal and Jonglei states.
According to the monitoring body, direct hostilities between signatory forces were relatively limited before the Nasir incident but have since become more frequent.
Ayana said monitors have recorded repeated armed confrontations between forces of the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-in-Opposition, including affiliated elements, with shifting territorial control reported in several locations.
The 407 alleged violations documented over the six-month period underscore the scale of insecurity facing the peace process. Ayana said verification efforts are ongoing despite operational constraints, with new priority cases identified for investigation.
Reduced donor funding has forced a restructuring of the monitoring body’s operations, cutting monitoring teams from six to three and leading to the closure of field offices in Yei, Bentiu and Yambio.
“This consolidation comes at a time when monitoring demands are increasing,” Ayana said, warning that limited resources could affect oversight capacity.
He also expressed concern over continued attacks affecting civilians and aid workers, including ambushes, abductions, market attacks and alleged extrajudicial killings.
Reports of aerial bombardments in parts of Jonglei and Upper Nile, if verified, could amount to serious violations of the ceasefire and international humanitarian law, he said.
Sexual and gender-based violence, particularly against women and children, remains a grave concern, he added.
“The extreme violence on young children, women and girls is unacceptable and must be strongly condemned by all signatory parties,” Ayana said.
Insecurity, movement restrictions and illegal checkpoints continue to obstruct humanitarian access and verification activities, while some areas remain inaccessible because of denied access or air movement restrictions, he said.
The monitoring body urged all parties to recommit to the ceasefire, accelerate implementation of security arrangements and cooperate fully with monitoring mechanisms, including by allowing unrestricted access.
It also reiterated its request for updates on the deployment and training of unified forces, saying transparency is essential for credible oversight.
“Let us recommit not only in principle, but in practice,” Ayana said.