fbpx
Law Enforcement Press Release South Sudan

Fearing New Fighting, South Sudanese Pour into UN Camps

Waakhe Simon Wudu

SPLA soldiers in the first phase of 2013-2014 South Sudan civil war in Malakal, Upper Nile(Photo: files)
SPLA soldiers in the first phase of 2013-2014 South Sudan civil war in Malakal, Upper Nile(Photo: files)

July 3, 2014(VOA) — Thousands of South Sudanese are pouring into already overcrowded U.N. camps in Bentiu and Malakal, amid fears that fighting could break out again in the two capitals of South Sudan’s main oil producing states, an official said Thursday.

“The government forces and the opposition forces are often in very close proximity of each other, so I think there are many people who fear that things might erupt from one day to another,” said the U.N. Mission in South Sudan’s (UNMISS) head of Peace-building, Reintegration and Recovery, Derk Segaar.

The new influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to U.N. camps comes in spite of there being no new outbreaks of fighting on the ground.

“It’s not because of wide-scale hostility this time but maybe the threat that violence might erupt that forces the IDPs to come to our site,” Segaar said.

Food insecurity worsening

Worsening food insecurity is also driving more IDPs to the camps, he said.

Markets in Bentiu, the capital of Unity state, and Malakal, capital of Upper Nile, have been razed or ransacked during seven months of fighting in South Sudan. As a result, food has become hard to find in both towns and prices have been driven up, Segaar said.

At the U.N.camps, on the other hand, some food is available to IDPs. But as the number of people sheltering at the camps has risen steadily as the conflict has ground on, food supplies in the camps have also been stretched.

More than 100,000 IDPs are sheltering in 10 U.N. camps across the country, Segaar said. With so many people flooding into the camps, the IDPs are living in increasingly cramped space with not enough sanitary facilities to adequately serve everyone.

The poor conditions at the camps have led to outbreaks of disease, including cholera. Six suspected cases of the diarrheal disease have been reported at the UNMISS camp in Bentiu.

UNMISS is working with humanitarian organizations to improve conditions inside existing Protection of Civilian sites and is setting up new sites to decongest the overcrowded camps, none of which was intended to house thousands of people.

Related posts

Security Council: Presidential Statement Urges Warring Parties to Honour Peace Agreements

.

Malong, Pagan and Cirilo reiterate rejection of South Sudan’s revitalized peace deal

Editors

SSUF/A Claims to be in control of forces who are said to be loyal to Gen. Buay Rolnyang in Unity State

Nyamilepedia

2 comments

South Sudan: Rising Tension In Multiple States. | Nyamilepedia July 4, 2014 at 10:15 pm

[…] Fearing New Fighting, South Sudanese Pour into UN Camps […]

Reply
paul bior January 7, 2015 at 9:36 am

all idps camp and refugee in other country they are pearing to come about rebel talk in news, how come the rebel can created 21 states and gov’t of s.sudan said to all civilian to come back to s.sudan while sercurity in s.sudan is not pefect .

Reply

Tell us what you think

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

//shasogna.com/4/4323504
%d bloggers like this: