On 17 August, as Riek Machar, South Sudan rebel leader, and Pagan Amum, the head of South Sudan's ruling party, signed an agreement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to end the 20-month civil war in sub-Sahara Africa's youngest country, South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, walked away, demanding a 15-day extension to confer with officials in Juba. South Sudan's civil war erupted in December 2013 following a political dispute between Kiir and Machar, his then deputy. Tens of thousands have died and more than 2 million have been displaced since the fighting broke out. The UN mission in South Sudan reports that it is sheltering nearly 200,000 civilians on its bases.
The US Ambassador to South Sudan had issued an official statement three days before the deadline offering support to the government in Juba to assist in managing the implementation of a peace deal if the two sides signed the agreement by 17 August. Mediators had also, however, threatened international sanctions if the sides failed to reach an agreement on Monday. No sanctions have been announced, but the US State Department spokesman said that the US “would consider ways to raise the cost for intransigence” if President Kiir did not accept the accord soon.
In today's Viz of the Day, Knoema provides available data on the armed conflict, refugee flows, and a broader look at economic conditions in the region.
Source: Armed Conflict Location and Event Datasets (ACLED) Historical and Realtime Complete All Africa, 1997-2015, World Development Indicators (WDI), August 2015, Merchandise trade matrix, imports and exports of total all products, annual, 1995-2013, IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO), April 2015