'Fire came from the sky and burned them' - life on the brink of civil war in South Sudan

Thousands of people have been fleeing the South Sudanese town of Akobo and surrounding parts of Jonglei state, where the army says it has intensified strikes on its enemies to regain control.

The latest fighting has led the UN to warn of a possible return to full-blown civil war in the world's youngest nation.

Nyawan Koang, 30, and her five children had to walk for two days to reach the dusty village of Duk. They had fled Ayod, where armed clashes had been raging between the military and opponents since the beginning of the year.

We were [wedged] between two forces: the SPLA-IO and the government. And their bullets kill us, she told the BBC.

Government forces are trying to retake territory from those loyal to First Vice-President Riek Machar, who has been suspended from his post after being accused of plotting to overthrow President Salva Kiir. Machar has been under house arrest in Juba for a year awaiting trial for murder, treason and crimes against humanity.

Aligned with Machar are the Sudan People's Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), who have been seizing towns in Jonglei and other neighbouring states. As they advanced, threatening Jonglei's capital, Bor, they left devastated communities in their wake. Whole villages have been torched and civilians indiscriminately killed. The government has responded swiftly - and ferociously - deploying more troops to attack the positions of their rivals.

But civilians were also attacked - including Nyawan's family. She lost both her parents when an air strike hit their small thatched-roof hut.

Fire came from the sky and burned them, she said.

Nyawan and her family are among the more than 280,000 people forced from their homes by recent clashes. Thousands of them are in Duk, where aid organisations provide food, medicine and other basic essentials.

More lives are likely to be turned upside-down, or snuffed out altogether, unless a political change course is made.

Fighting between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his rival-turned-deputy Riek Machar first broke out in 2013, just two years after the euphoria of independence. A 2018 peace deal ended the civil war that had killed nearly 400,000 people, but it has never been properly implemented amid ethnic tensions and sporadic violence.

It is not clear how many people have been killed in the renewed conflict. One report by the UN's rights body documented 189 civilian deaths in January alone.

Civilians are bearing the brunt of a spike in indiscriminate attacks including aerial bombardments, deliberate killings, abductions and conflict-related sexual violence, said the body's head Volker Türk.

Meanwhile, humanitarian conditions are deteriorating in Jonglei state, with 60% of its two million people facing hunger. Across South Sudan, 10 million out of 14 million people need food aid.

The resurgence of violence has exacerbated already dire humanitarian needs in the state making it challenging for agencies to provide assistance.

The government is being urged to reassess its military tactics and secure the safety of civilians caught in the conflict.