UN sends more peacekeepers to South Sudan as violence worsens

Families displaced by recent fighting in South Sudan, camp in a warehouse inside the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS) facility in Jabel, on the outskirts of capital Juba December 23, 2013. Photo: REUTERS/James Akena]

The U.N. Security Council approved plans on Tuesday to almost double the number of peacekeepers in South Sudan in an effort to protect civilians as reports of mass graves fueled fears of a worsening of ethnic bloodletting in the world's newest state.

The move came as the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in the country said the death toll from the past 10 days of violence was likely now in the thousands, rather than the hundreds the world body had previously estimated.