"There is already a steady process of ethnic cleansing underway in several areas of South Sudan using starvation, gang rape and the burning of villages; everywhere we went across this country we heard villagers saying they are ready to shed blood to get their land back," said Yasmin Sooka of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan. Sooka was speaking to the press in the capital Juba at the end of a 10-day visit during which the three-member team spoke with civilians in the battleground towns of Bentiu, Malakal and Wau, as well as government officials and members of civil society. At a press conference in Juba on Wednesday, Sooka warned of "unprecedented levels of violence and ethnic tension" without using the term ethnic cleansing, a war crime closely related to genocide which refers more to groups being forcibly removed from a particular area. Since late 2013, with little interruption, South Sudan has been riven by fighting between two main groups, one led by former vice president Riek Machar and the other by President Salva Kiir. There are several steps that should be taken NOW to avert catastrophe – these are sanctions, asset freezes, an arms embargo, the immediate deployment of the 4000 strong protection force in South Sudan which should not be restricted to the capital alone. “We have credible information that the South Sudanese government is currently targeting civilians in Central Equatoria and … preparing for large-scale attacks in the coming days and weeks.”

Speaking to The Associated Press after the session of the 47-member council, Harper said that U.S. diplomats were “principally working it through New York because that is where we can do an arms ban, arms embargo, individualized multi-lateral sanctions. “Throughout my visit, conversations with all actors confirmed that what began as a political conflict has transformed into what could become an outright ethnic war.” “Action can and must be taken now to address some of the factors that could provide fertile ground for genocide,” Dieng added.
A United Nations human rights commission in South Sudan claims a "steady process of ethnic cleansing is underway" in the war-torn nation.