UN says South Sudan 'lukewarm' about regional peace effort

UNITED NATIONS – The UN peacekeeping chief says South Sudan's government has given only "a lukewarm response" to a regional effort to revive the 2015 peace agreement and end worsening violence in the world's newest nation.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the UN Security Council Tuesday that opposition figures including the country's former Vice President Riek Machar "all declared cautious support to the process."

US Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is heading to South Sudan next week, told the council on Sept. 26 that the revitalization process advanced by the eight-nation East African regional group known as IGAD "is the last chance at salvaging the peace agreement."

Haley expressed hope that South Sudan's leaders will seize the opportunity, warning that if they don't Security Council members must "individually and collectively" do more to end the conflict.