UN experts: Many worry South Sudan may return to conflict

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — United Nations experts say many political leaders and civilians in South Sudan are “deeply skeptical” a 2018 peace agreement can deliver stability to the world’s newest nation and worry it may be heading back into conflict. In a report circulated Monday, the experts point to political disputes between former rivals now leading the government, President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar, that have gridlocked much of the peace deal they signed. The report says that “almost every component of the peace agreement is now hostage to the political calculations of the country’s military and security elites.”