UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged all leaders in South Sudan to find an inclusive and mutually agreed power-sharing arrangement to start a transitional government.

Mr. Ban made the call at a high-level meeting chaired by UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s annual debate.

The meeting was to draw attention to the humanitarian situation in the country.

Mr. Ban Ki-moon said, “South Sudan has fertile land and valuable reserves of oil, and has a potentially vibrant economy. But instead of thriving, he said the country is failing”.

He said the dire humanitarian situation in South Sudan is primarily man made.

“There is no military solution to the conflict in South Sudan, and said the international community must remain committed to impose punitive measures on those responsible for the violence and impeding the peace process”. Ban said.

“….there can be no amnesty for anyone responsible for killing innocent civilians”, he added.

Mr. Ban said about one hundred thousand people are sheltering at United Nations peacekeeping bases, yet without the UN’s protection, he said thousands of people in South Sudan would probably have died.

The U. N. Secretary General also said outside U-N bases, hundreds of thousands of Internally Displaced Persons or I-D-P-s, are living in insecurity and lack the basics to survive, and said humanitarian agencies face enormous problems in reaching the I-D-P-s.

The UN Secretary-General, said around four million people — more than a third of South Sudan’s population — suffer alarming food insecurity. He said unless the international community act quickly, some fifty-thousand children could die before the end of this year.