#toby lanzer

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War-torn South Sudan faces possible famine early next year, the UN chief in the country warned Thursday, as aid workers said the shooting down of a UN helicopter threatened efforts to save lives. "We all are working very hard to prevent a famine... but I am very worried that we will not be able to prevent it," UN aid chief in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, told reporters. Thousands of people have been killed and more than 1.8 million have fled a civil war sparked by a power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy Riek Machar. "The single biggest cause if there is a famine is the failure of the political leadership to resolve this crisis," Lanzer said. Source: AFP

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By Carl Odera JUBA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of children in South Sudan could die this year without assistance from aid agencies, the United Nations said on Saturday, as it appealed for more than $1 billion to help those hit by six months of civil war. Fighting that erupted in December has driven 1.5 million people from their homes, and seven million were at risk of starvation and disease, said Toby Lanzer, U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan. "The consequences could be dire: 50,000 children could die this year if they do not get assistance." Government forces backing President Salva Kiir and soldiers loyal to his sacked deputy Riek Machar violated the latest ceasefire signed in May hours after it took effect, with the continued bloodshed compounding the humanitarian crisis in the world's youngest nation. Lanzer said the seasonal rains had set in and conditions for South Sudanese were deteriorating by the day. Source: Reuters

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Rebel gunmen in South Sudan massacred "hundreds" of civilians because of their ethnicity when they captured a key oil town last week, the UN said Monday, calling for a probe into one of the worst reported atrocities in the war-torn nation. In the main mosque alone, "more than 200 civilians were reportedly killed and over 400 wounded," the UN mission in the country said. Civilians including children were also massacred at a church, hospital and an abandoned UN World Food Programme compound, it said. Toby Lanzer, the top UN aid official in the country, told AFP after visiting the town of Bentiu he had witnessed the "most terrible sight". Source: AFP

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Rebel gunmen in South Sudan massacred "hundreds" of civilians because of their ethnicity when they captured a key oil town last week, the UN said Monday, one of the worst reported atrocities in the war-torn nation. Civilians including children were also massacred at a church, hospital and an abandoned UN World Food Programme (WFP) compound, it said. Toby Lanzer, the top UN aid official in the country, told AFP after visiting the town of Bentiu he had witnessed the "most terrible sight". South Sudan's army has been fighting rebels loyal to sacked vice president Riek Machar, who launched a renewed offensive this month targeting key oil fields. Source: AFP

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The United Nations said Friday at least 58 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded in an attack against one of its bases in South Sudan sheltering thousands of civilians. The top UN official in the war-torn nation, Toby Lanzer, praised peacekeepers from India, Nepal and South Korea for preventing what could have been a massacre of up to 5,000 people, and vowed the world body would use "lethal force" again to protect civilians under their protection. "We will do everything necessary to protect the lives of people in our protection, including the use of lethal force," Lanzer told AFP. In the clearest account yet of Thursday's incident in the government-controlled town of Bor, Lanzer described how a group of around 350 armed youths in civilian clothes "used extremely violent force to breach the perimeter" of the UN base. Source: AFP

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The United Nations on Friday sounded the alarm over an upsurge in vicious communal violence in conflict-hit South Sudan, after dozens were killed in an attack on civilians sheltering in a UN base. UN officials said "dozens" of people were killed and scores more wounded on Thursday by gunmen posing as peaceful protestors who stormed a UN base in the war-ravaged town of Bor, one of several sites where thousands of people are sheltering from ethnic violence. The US ambassador to the world body, Samantha Power, said at least 20 were confirmed dead, while the top UN aid official in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, said dozens were dead. "Humanitarian partners are particularly outraged by deliberate and targeted killings of civilians in hospitals, churches, UN peacekeeping bases and other places where people's rights should be sacrosanct," the UN's aid agency UNOCHA said in a statement. Source: AFP

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Gunmen stormed a UN base in South Sudan Thursday, wounding dozens of civilians from a rival tribe in an "unprovoked" attack before peacekeepers fought them off, the UN said. The top UN aid official in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, said he was "outraged" by the assault in the war-ravaged town of Bor, in which two peacekeepers were also wounded. Almost 5,000 civilians are sheltering inside the fortified base of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), one of the most bitterly contested regions in the four-month-long conflict splitting the country. The civilians fled into the base weeks ago amid brutal ethnic massacres in the world's newest nation. Source: AFP

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Several people were wounded in South Sudan Thursday after gunmen attacked civilians sheltering inside a UN peacekeeping base in the war-ravaged town of Bor, the UN said. The top UN aid official in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, said he was "outraged" by what he said was an "attack of armed youth in Bor on civilians seeking protection". Almost 5,000 civilians are sheltering inside the fortified base of the UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in the town, one of the most bitterly contested regions in the four-month-long conflict in the world's newest nation. Information Minister Michael Makuei said that a "huge number" of gunmen, seeking revenge for the rebel capture of the oil-town of Bentiu two days ago, overwhelmed government forces in a bid to slaughter the terrified and trapped civilians. Source: AFP