S’Sudan fighting displaces 70,000 in three weeks -UN

 

The UN refugee agency said Tuesday more than 70,000 South Sudanese have fled fighting for three weeks since truce agreement was signed in Addis Ababa on May 9.

According to UNHCR, recent arrivals say they have fled fighting in neighboring Jonglei and Upper Nile states, particularly the area around Mathiang in Longechuk county of Upper Nile State with people from other areas fearing imminent attacks or food insecurity.

“Ethiopia currently hosts the largest South Sudanese refugee population at 131,051 people, mostly women and children,” UNHCR said in a statement received in Nairobi.

“To accommodate the refugees, UNHCR and the Ethiopian authorities have opened three new camps this year, two of which ( Leitchuor and Kule I) have a combined population of 95,085 refugees and are already full,” the statement said.

The third camp, Kule II which we opened on May 17, is already hosting 5,997 refugees, UNHCR said.

“With 16,500 more refugees at the border waiting to be relocated there, and an average of 1,000 South Sudanese arriving daily in Ethiopia, we have already started looking for additional land for a fourth camp,” it said.

Since the signing of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in Addis Ababa on May 9, the number of internally displaced people has grown by 46,000 people to 1.01 million.

“Over the same period, the number of South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda has swollen by over 20,000 to 370,000 people,” the UN agency said.

The world’s newest country has been mired in civil conflict for over six months, aggravating an already dire humanitarian situation. The truce signed earlier this month was the second so far.

With the conflict in South Sudan having put four million people at risk of acute food insecurity, the UN agency expressed concern at the potential for further displacement internally and into neighboring countries over the coming weeks.

UNHCR lauded donors for the 600 million U.S. dollars pledged last week in Oslo towards UN humanitarian operations aimed at alleviating the plight of forcibly displaced South Sudanese.

“This includes operations inside South Sudan, as well as the four countries hosting South Sudanese refugees,” it said.

“South Sudan is also host to some 320,000 refugees from Sudan. Among these, we are also worried about food shortages, particularly those in the Maban area of Upper Nile,” it said.

Currently across South Sudan many people are unable to farm, to access their normal food sources, or to migrate with their livestock while the challenge for those hoping to flee areas of fighting is that roads and river crossings are becoming impassable because of the rainy season.