JUBA, South Sudan — South Sudan slid rapidly closer to war Monday as helicopter gunships pounded targets, two UN peacekeepers were killed, foreign governments scrambled to get their citizens out, and worries grew about the fate of civilians in crowded camps.
Gunfire rang out from different quarters, moving across Juba, the capital, like a thunderstorm, on and off, and witnesses said hundreds of people had been killed in the past three days.
The fighting completely overshadowed the fifth anniversary over the weekend of the country’s independence. In Juba, few celebrated because people were hunkered down indoors.
South Sudan, the world’s youngest country and one of its poorest, cracked open into civil war in December 2013 after the nation’s two top politicians, President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar, bitterly split.
Machar became the leader of a rebel group, and an estimated 50,000 people have been killed since then. Each side has been blamed for widespread atrocities against civilians.
But after a peace agreement, Machar returned to Juba in April and was sworn into his old position as Kiir’s vice president, essentially returning the country to the fragile political situation it was in before the war.
The latest violence seems to be fueled by the same rivalry between the two men, who are from different ethnic groups and have tens of thousands of heavily armed young men following them. But there are also worries that the top leaders are losing control over their troops.
“In the last 2 hrs, we went through heavy bombardments by Pres Kiir helicopters,’’ Machar wrote on Twitter Monday. “This tells that our partner is not interested in peace.’’
On Monday, UN officials said that the large displaced persons camps in and around Juba that house thousands of people had been shelled, killing at least two civilians and wounding dozens.
It was not clear if the mortar or artillery shells that had crashed into the camps were stray shots or were deliberately aimed at civilians seeking refuge. UN officials said they were deeply concerned and were trying to secure the camps as best as possible.
Kiir’s spokesman read a statement signed by the president calling for a unilateral cease-fire beginning at 6 p.m. local time, and he urged Machar to tell his fighters to stand down as well.
“This is a unilateral cease-fire,’’ said the spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny. “The president has declared, and is also urging the leader of the former rebel movement, Dr. Riek, who is still the first vice president of the republic of South Sudan, to also do the same and cease the hostilities.’’
More than 10,000 people may have been displaced by the latest fighting, the United Nations said, adding to the 30,000 people or so who fled their homes during previous rounds of violence in Juba.
On Monday, the maternity wing of a hospital run by the International Medical Corps was hit by shelling, the group said in a statement, adding that it had treated 139 people since Friday for injuries inside what is supposed to be a protected area.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Monday for an “immediate arms embargo’’ against South Sudan, saying that its rival leaders had “made a mockery’’ of the peace deal they signed only months ago.
The ball is now in the Security Council’s court. The United States and China, the two countries with the greatest stakes in the country, have been lukewarm to the idea of an arms embargo in the past.
“The international community has a responsibility to act,’’ Ban told reporters.
Ban also called for the peacekeeping mission to be reinforced. There are 12,000 soldiers and police officers on the ground now. Ban said government troops had effectively been blocked from leaving their bases, erecting roadblocks and checkpoints and also closing the airport.
Contingency plans are being explored to bring in more peacekeepers from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, UN officials said Monday.
The displaced persons camps are considered to be in danger. Thousands of people, mostly members of Machar’s ethnic group, the Nuer, are concentrated in rows of tents, easy targets for artillery.
Many fled their homes in the past two years to escape ethnically targeted violence. Human rights groups say the violence between Nuer soldiers and those of the Dinka, Kiir’s group, has spawned a range of atrocities, including mass rape and the widespread killing of civilians.
The US government is preparing to evacuate personnel from its embassy in Juba. Last week, when the fighting started, a US government car was sprayed by gunfire. The car was heavily armored, and no American employees were believed to have been hurt.
