By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA, Feb 27 (Reuters) - South Sudan is at a "dangerous point" as a surge in killings threatens a fragile peace deal, the U.N. human rights chief said on Friday, a day after Western powers accused groups linked to the military of carrying out a massacre.
At least 16 people were killed by "unruly elements from the South Sudan People's Defence Forces soldiers" in the eastern state of Jonglei on February 21, state information minister Nyamar Ngundeng said late on Thursday.
The government denied that soldiers had deliberately targeted any civilians, but acknowledged they may have been caught in crossfire in the strife-torn territory that borders Ethiopia.
A 2018 peace deal ended a five-year civil war that pitted forces loyal to President Salva Kiir against those of First Vice President Riek Machar and killed nearly 400,000 people in the world's newest country.
There have been repeated clashes over territory and other rivalries since then and the country was plunged deeper into political turmoil after Machar was suspended from his post last year and charged with 20 others of being involved in militia raids in the northeast. They deny the charges.
The killings of 189 civilians were documented in January, amid a 45% increase in rights violations and abuses from the previous month, the head of the U.N. human rights office, Volker Turk, said.
"We are at a dangerous point, when rising violence is combined with deepening uncertainty over South Sudan’s political trajectory, as the peace agreement comes under severe strain," he told members of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Referring to last Saturday's violence in Jonglei, he gave a higher death count, saying witnesses had described soldiers ordering civilians to gather then opening fire, killing 21 unarmed people including children.
"Military discipline appears to have collapsed in both Government and opposition forces in Jonglei and Eastern Equatoria, where troops have demonstrated a near-total disregard for civilian protection," he said.
Government and opposition forces and allied militias have also attacked residential areas in Upper Nile, Unity, Central Equatoria, Western Bahr el Ghazal, Western Equatoria, Warrap states, Turk said.
In a joint statement posted on X late on Thursday, the U.S. the EU, Britain and other Western nations said they were "appalled by credible reports of a deliberate massacre of civilians" in the Jonglei village of Pankor.
Responding to that post, South Sudan's government spokesperson, Ateny Wek, said the military did not kill civilians.
"Unless those civilians were caught in a crossfire, there's not any SSPDF that has the intention to kill any civilian," Wek said.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin and Nairobi Newsroom; Editing by George Obulutsa and Andrew Heavens)
