UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Maj. Gen. Junhui Wu of China as the new force commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan on Thursday.
Wu replaces Lieut. Gen. Mohan Subramanian, whose leadership of the peacekeeping force drew praise from the UN chief after steering the mission through fragile security conditions.
The UN said Wu brings four decades of leadership and operational experience in the People’s Liberation Army and in international peacekeeping operations.
His appointment comes as tensions simmer across South Sudan, where fragile peace still struggles against the shadows of a devastating civil war.
The country gained independence in 2011 but slid into conflict two years later after President Salva Kiir Mayardit dismissed his deputy Riek Machar, accusing him of attempting a coup.
The political fallout ignited a brutal civil war that fractured communities, displaced millions, and left deep scars across the world’s youngest nation.
A 2018 peace agreement created a transitional unity government, yet armed clashes and political mistrust have continued to test the fragile arrangement.
Recent fighting has intensified in northern Jonglei State between the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in-Opposition.
The opposition faction is led by Oyet Nathaniel, deputy chair of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition and a key figure in the country’s turbulent political landscape.
Violence first erupted earlier in Western Equatoria State before spreading northward, deepening fractures within the transitional government formed under the 2018 peace deal.
Machar has remained under house arrest since March 2025 and is currently facing trial, a development that further clouds South Sudan’s uncertain political horizon.
