Renewed conflict in South Sudan threatens to undermine a fragile peace agreement between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, raising international concerns about a potential relapse into civil war. Clashes in Nasir County, Upper Nile State, have escalated, displacing at least 50,000 people since February, according to the United Nations.

Recent violence includes airstrikes carried out by the South Sudan army against civilians in Nasir town. County commissioner James Gatluak reported that the assault began around 3:30 am local time, with multiple bombs dropped on the town's market and a residential area. Airstrikes wounded one woman and critically injured a young child. "The people that are being affected most are the women and the children," Gatluak told AFP. A Nasir resident, Jany Manytap, confirmed the attack, stating, "The airstrike targets everyone."

Gatluak described the situation in Nasir as "deteriorating," with humanitarian staff evacuated due to the escalating violence. This follows another aerial attack earlier in the week that reportedly killed 20 people. Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth stated that the strikes were part of "security operations," adding, "If you as a civilian happen to be there... then there is nothing we can do."

The fighting jeopardizes the 2018 peace deal between Kiir and Machar, who previously fought a five-year civil war that resulted in approximately 400,000 deaths. Allies of President Kiir have accused Machar's forces of instigating unrest in Nasir County, allegedly in collaboration with the White Army, an armed youth group from Machar's Nuer ethnic community. Tensions rose earlier this month when an estimated 6,000 White Army combatants overran a military encampment in Nasir. A United Nations rescue attempt resulted in the death of a UN crew member and a senior South Sudanese general.

Information Minister Lueth also confirmed the presence of Ugandan forces in Juba under a "military pact," following earlier denials of their deployment. Nicholas Haysom, head of the UN Mission in South Sudan, has warned that the country is "poised on the brink of relapse into civil war."

Analysts fear that the nearly two-year civil war in neighboring Sudan is fueling the unrest, with armed individuals crossing the border. Daniel Akech, senior South Sudan analyst at the International Crisis Group, stated, "That is part of the biggest fear we are seeing now, where the two conflict systems could potentially merge."