News / Sudan

Week of violence uproots 100,000 in South Sudan: UN

Saturday, 09 May 2015 7:56 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 09 May 2015 7:56 AM ]

Internally displaced South Sudanese wait to receive food rations at a UN humanitarian site in Bentiu, Unity State, on February 27, 2015. © AFP

The United Nations says up to 100,000 South Sudanese people have fled their homes over the past week due to heavy fighting between government troops and rebel forces in the country’s northern oil-rich state of Unity.

Toby Lanzer, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan, said in a statement released on Friday that the ongoing violence south of the town of Bentiu in Unity State has uprooted up to 100,000 people from their homes since early May.

“Civilians living in the areas of and around Guit, Ngop and Nhialdu have been particularly struck by violence and, in an attempt to avoid it, have fled,” Lanzer added.

South Sudan plunged into violence in December 2013, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to the government of President Salva Kiir and defectors led by his former deputy, Riek Machar, around the capital, Juba.

Toby Lanzer, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan

Lanzer called on both sides to allow aid workers to access the worst-hit places, as agencies are at the moment unable to reach the areas to assess and respond to the residents’ needs.

“I call on state and non-state armed actors alike to take all measures to prevent civilians from being hurt or displaced, and to facilitate fully the work of aid agencies responding to the needs of populations, based on the principles of humanity, impartiality and neutrality,” said Lanzer.

The UN official emphasized that under international humanitarian law all warring sides in the conflict are obliged to protect civilians adding, “People should never be harmed, and certainly not targeted or forced to flee from their homes.”

This picture taken on February 28, 2015 shows a children bathing at a contaminated borehole at Rier village in South Sudan’s Unity State. © AFP

According to the UN, since the fighting broke out 17 months ago over 2000,000 South Sudanese have fled their homes, with more than 520,000 of them seeking refuge in neighboring Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda.

In addition, the international body has said tens of thousands of people have been killed during the war in the world’s youngest country, with the clashes leaving more than half of its 12 million people in need of aid, including 2.5 million people who are facing severe food insecurity.

Both army soldiers and rebel forces have been accused of widespread atrocities during the violence. The two sides have held several rounds of peace talks, but the negotiations have so far failed to produce a lasting truce deal between the conflicting sides.

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