UN peacemaker dies weeks after South Sudan ambush

An Ethiopian peacekeeper has died of his wounds weeks after an ambush that killed two others in South Sudan, the UN said on Monday.

The attack occurred at the end of August in eastern Jonglei state, which has been a focus of recent conflict between the government and opposition forces.

Two Ethiopian peacekeepers were killed and three others wounded in the attack, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said on August 24.

On Monday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in New York that UNMISS had reported that one of the wounded peacekeepers “has now died from his injuries.”

“The tragic loss is a stark reminder of the difficult and often dangerous conditions that our peacekeepers serve in,” he said.

South Sudan, one of the poorest and reportedly most corrupt nations in the world, gained independence in 2011 but was soon after plunged into civil war.

A power-sharing deal ended the war in 2018 but has lately been falling apart.

The government of President Salva Kiir hopes to hold the country’s first elections in December.