The U.N. has expressed concern over violence in the strategic town of Akobo in South Sudan’s Jonglei State. Opposition forces say they have seized the town from government troops that had taken control last month. Fighting started over the weekend and the warned of worsening humanitarian conditions and called for a cessation of hostilities. The government public service minister called the attacks “senseless and unjustified." The army refused to comment. The South Sudanese government has been fighting opposition forces since a 2018 peace deal broke down about a year ago. Akobo is one of the last strongholds of the opposition, led by Riek Machar, South Sudan’s detained vice president.
