Clashes inside UN compound in South Sudan kill at least 18

PanARMENIAN.Net - Clashes inside a United Nations compound in South Sudan killed at least 18 people, including two Doctors Without Borders staffers, the organization said Thursday, Feb 18, according to CNN.

The fighting erupted Wednesday evening and continued Thursday at a UN civilian protection site in the northeastern city of Malakal, officials said. Doctors Without Borders teams reported treating dozens of wounded.

Youths from the Shilluk and Dinka ethnic groups fought using small arms, machetes and other weapons, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan said in a statement condemning the violence.

UN police used tear gas to disperse the crowd, the mission said. Officials released photos showing smoke billowing in the sky above the compound.

The site is one of six UN bases housing nearly 200,000 people displaced by violence in the country, according to the mission. More than 47,000 people have taken shelter at the Malakal site. The number of people living there more than doubled last year, Doctors Without Borders said.

Many of them came from areas where there had been no aid for months, the organization said, and most arrived without any possessions.

South Sudan, the world's newest country, has been embroiled in one of the world's most brutal -- and under-reported -- conflicts since December 2013.

Earlier this week South Sudan's President reinstated his vice president as part of a peace deal to end the country's two-year civil war.