Map of South Sudan Courtesy - of - en.wikipedia.org

The UN High Commission for Human Rights has urged all political and community leaders in South Sudan to urgently condemn the incitement of targeted violence against some groups.

It says some letters threatening violence against a particular group were left outside gates of some humanitarian organizations in Aweil State last week.

The UNHCR says the letter warned the group to leave the region.

In a statement in Geneva, the UN High Commissioner, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, urged the South Sudanese leaders to take urgent measures to prevent such actions from happening.

“Hateful ethnic rhetoric in South Sudan – particularly if it is exploited for political purposes – can have devastating consequences for entire communities, quickly spiraling into a cycle of revenge attacks,” High Commissioner Zeid said.

“I urge President Salva Kiir and all political and community leaders with influence to urgently and unambiguously condemn the incitement to violence and to take urgent measures to defuse the tensions.”

Mr Zeid welcomed the press statement issued by Aweil State authorities, in which they called on all citizens to join the government in condemning these alleged threats.

Authorities in Aweil say two suspects have been arrested in connection with the assault of two staff of WFP and are being investigated.