By Xinhua

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Two UN rights officials have decried the worsening human rights situation in South Sudan in the wake of the recent mass killings in the capitals of Unity and Jonglei states, terming it a catastrophe.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and the UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng who ended their visits to South Sudan on Wednesday called on the world to take immediate measures to end the violence.

"The region should strive further and take urgent measures to end the violence. South Sudan should not be led down this slippery slope," Dieng said in a statement issued at the end of his three- day visit.

He called on warring parties to bring their military activities and killing of innocent people to an immediate end and bring to account those involved.

"What is happening in this country has put the population at risk of serious violence. I urge all the regional leaders to support South Sudan in this effort," the UN official said.

"As we search for peace in this young nation, we must also ensure that those responsible for crimes committed here must be held to account. There can be no peace without justice. The current culture of impunity will only serve to undermine our efforts," he said.

Ms Pillay and Mr Dieng met with senior government officials, including President Salva Kiir and leader of SPLA/M Riek Machar, with the human rights chiefs asking the two leaders to take action to put a stop to human rights violations.

"From these consultations and other available reports, it is clear that the conflict has taken a dangerous trajectory, and civilians are being deliberately targeted based on their ethnicity and perceived political affiliation," Dieng said.

The visit comes at the request of UN Secretary General Ban Ki- moon, who has expressed concern over the situation in South Sudan, where a conflict that began in mid-December 2013 as a political dispute between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy president, Riek Machar, is believed to have left thousands dead and forced tens of thousands to seek refuge at UN bases.

The UN mission (UNMISS) has also reported fighting between the government armed forces, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), and opposition forces in Mayom in Unity state, with the town reportedly changing hands twice over the weekend.

There was also fighting near Manga, north of the state capital, Bentiu. "If, in the very near future, there is no peace deal, no accountability, no space to rebuild trust and promote reconciliation, and insufficient funds to cope with a looming humanitarian disaster, I shudder to think where South Sudan is heading," Ms Pillay said.

She said after so many decades of conflict and economic neglect, the South Sudanese deserve better than this, especially from their own leaders, but also from the international community, which has been slow to act.

"To give just one example: in December, the Security Council agreed that the number of UNMSS peacekeepers should be increased from 7,700 to 13,200, but the contributing countries have still not supplied some two thirds of the extra desperately needed troops," Ms Pillay said.

Peace effort

She urged donor countries to respond quickly to the humanitarian agencies appeal for funds, as well as applying their full political weight to the peace effort.

The UN estimates that there are already 4.9 million South Sudanese in need of humanitarian assistance.

"That number is likely to rise, and their needs are likely to become more acute, if the fighting and violence are not halted immediately, and the international community does not lend more support," she said.

She said it was essential that the South Sudanese people and the international community impress on the country's political leaders that they must stop blindly dragging their people down the path of self-destruction.

"Dieng and I have warned those same leaders that current and future investigations will inevitably examine the extent to which political and military leaders either knew, should have known, or failed to take all necessary and reasonable measures to prevent war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by themselves or by subordinates under their effective authority and control," Ms Pillay said.

With the rainy season just starting, the two UN officials urged the leaders to show more concern both for the 1.2 million people displaced inside South Sudan, or in neighbouring countries, and the many other South Sudanese who are now in real danger of facing famine, because the conflict will disrupt the planting season.

"If famine does take hold later in the year, and the humanitarian agencies are deeply fearful that it will, responsibility for it will lie squarely with the country's leaders who agreed to a cessation of hostilities in January and then failed to observe it themselves, while placing all the blame on each other," Ms Pillay said.

Fighting has continued to take place in various parts of the country despite the signing of a cessation of hostilities agreement by the main parties to the conflict in January.

In total, over a million South Sudanese are displaced; 923,000 within their own country, while more than 293,000 people have become refugees in neighbouring countries since the crisis began in mid-December 2013.