11 February 2014 - The top UN peacekeeping official today warned of difficult challenges in solving the conflict between the government and opposition in South Sudan.

“It is going to be a very long, complex process to address all the deep roots of this very big crisis,” Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous told reporters in New York after briefing the Security Council on the crisis.

“But of course, it is important that the entire international community express total support for IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) because it is the only diplomatic initiative,” Mr. Ladsous said.

IGAD is mediating peace talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the two sides signed a ceasefire accord last month.

He said UNMISS, whose authorized strength the Council doubled to nearly 14,000 uniformed personnel when the crisis erupted in December, was focused on four tasks -- protection of civilians, safeguarding human rights, support to humanitarian actors and support for IGAD mediation.

Fighting broke out in the country on 15 December between the forces of President Salva Kiir and former deputy president Riek Machar.

Thousands of people are believed to have been killed and some 870,000 others have fled their homes, 145,000 of them to neighbouring countries and 75,000 to eight UN bases within the country.

The ceasefire has led to a relative lull, but the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned today that the humanitarian situation in was critical.

More than three million people, or over a quarter of the total population, are facing food insecurity, while most families have lost any means of providing for themselves because of displacement, looting and destruction of property.

Most displaced have yet to receive help due to continued insecurity, although humanitarian partners have assisted 300,000 people, a third of those affected. It is essential that conditions are created to allow for the safe return of internally displaced people, OCHA stressed.

In another troubling development, a UN Mine Action Service team working with UNMISS last week found unexploded cluster bomblets along the road from Juba to Bor. These weapons are unreliable and indiscriminate, potentially posing long-term danger to civilians and vehicles.

In line with the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the UN is firmly committed to ending the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of such weapons.