Action is needed to tackle the escalation of violence in South Sudan, writes Jane-Ann McKenna

South Sudan’s armed forces shot down a UN helicopter today and all four crew on board died, the United Nations said.

Aid groups are mounting a “major emergency operation” in rural South Sudan after tribe-on-tribe violence sent tens of thousands fleeing and killed an unknown number of people, the United Nations said.

MORE than 3,000 people were killed in South Sudan in brutal massacres last week in an explosion of ethnic violence that forced tens of thousands to flee, a local official said yesterday as the UN increased patrols.

More than 80 people were killed when rebels attacked cattle herders in Southern Sudan, while hundreds marched in the southern capital to protest at the unresolved status of a volatile border hotspot.

At least 57 people have died in fighting between government forces and a rebel militia, according to a Southern Sudanese official.

The United Nations is preparing for the possibility of 2.8 million people being displaced if fighting breaks out over southern Sudan’s independence referendum, according to an internal report.

GUNMEN attacked a village in southern Sudan killing 80 and wounded 46, a southern government official said yesterday, adding he believed the militia was organised by the central government.