Dar es Salaam, March 25 -- SOUTH SUDAN: SOUTH Sudan is on the brink of a renewed civil war as violence between rival factions escalates, the United Nations has warned.

The situation in the country is “dire” said Nicholas Haysom, head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), late on Monday, as tension between forces allied with President Salva Kiir and those of Vice President Riek Machar continues to build.

Efforts to negotiate a peace deal would only be possible if Kiir and Machar were able to “put the interests of their people ahead of their own,” the UN official noted, warning that disinformation and hate speech are stirring ethnic hatred and provoking increasing violence that has displaced tens of thousands....