South Sudan is "on the brink of an all-out ethnic civil war," the head of a UN human rights commission has warned.

Yasmin Sooka told the UN Human Rights Council the international community could prevent a "Rwanda-like" genocide by immediately deploying 4,000 peacekeepers to protect civilians.

She also called for the country to set up a court to prosecute atrocities in the world's newest country.

Tens of thousands have been killed in fighting in South Sudan and more than a million people have fled.

South Sudan agrees to more UN troops

The conflict erupted in December 2013 after President Salva Kiir fired his vice-president, Riek Machar, sparking a civil war.

While South Sudanese authorities have denied civilians are being targeted, refugees' accounts point to both sides targeting civiliains along ethnic lines, supporting Ms Sooka's warning of a repeat of the 1994 genocide.

Ms Sooka said thousands of women have been raped. She said the country's crushed economy has the world's highest inflation rate at more then 800 per cent in October.

Thousands on brink of starvation in South Sudan Show all 8 1 /8 Thousands on brink of starvation in South Sudan Thousands on brink of starvation in South Sudan Analysis by the UN estimates that 2.8 million people are currently facing “acute” food and nutrition insecurity in South Sudan’s Greater Upper Nile states, including Unity Ashley Hamer Thousands on brink of starvation in South Sudan This young Rooney fan is one of 40,000 people facing a catastrophic famine that the United Nations believe is already happening Ashley Hamer Thousands on brink of starvation in South Sudan Hunger is driving a range of behaviors. “Families are running out of options,” therefore the skin of cattle is being eaten; undigested food in slaughtered cattle’s stomachs is being removed and “squeezed” to create beef-smelling stock; the killing and eating of birds and animals, not usually hunted, is increasing Ashley Hamer Thousands on brink of starvation in South Sudan People living on the so-called “highlands” of the Sudd swamp travel on thin canoes for days to register for food Ashley Hamer Thousands on brink of starvation in South Sudan The WFP have evidence that children under 10, travelling on their own, walked over 120 miles over days to leave government-control locations for the thin security of Nuer-controlled Nyal Ashley Hamer Thousands on brink of starvation in South Sudan People endure three, four hour waits at five locations where the WFP counted, registered, and then finally distributed life-saving rations Ashley Hamer Thousands on brink of starvation in South Sudan A two-year bloody conflict between mainly Dinka and Nuer groups, allied to warring government and opposition forces, and now spreading into other inter-ethnic struggles, is destroying the country’s once potentially oil-rich future Ashley Hamer Thousands on brink of starvation in South Sudan One UN report says there is “overwhelming evidence” of a humanitarian emergency in four Unity counties where communities are already using “severe coping strategies” not been seen since the conflict began Ashley Hamer

The recent visit by the UN team of investigators found indications that "a steady process of ethnic cleansing is already under way in some parts of the country," Ms Sooka said.

She said fighting is expected to "begin in earnest" now that the dry season has arrived.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir called for a national dialogue that would attempt to redefine the country's national identity in a speech to parliament on Wednesday.