On Friday, a South Sudanese general and dozens of soldiers were killed when a U.N. helicopter trying to evacuate them from Nasir came under attack, the government said.

South Sudan has seen an “alarming regression” as clashes in recent weeks in the country’s northeast threaten to undo years of progress towards peace, the United Nations commission on human rights for the country has warned.

As fears grow of a renewed full-blown civil war, the United States on Sunday ordered all its non-emergency staff to leave the country.

South Sudan stands at a precarious juncture as it enters another extended transitional period. The ongoing clashes between government forces, armed opposition groups, and allied militias in Western Equatoria and Nasir,

NAIROBI - Increased violence and political friction in South Sudan threaten its fragile peace process, a United Nations rights body said on Saturday, days after the arrests of several officials allied to the country's vice president.