According to the U.N.’s latest situation report, nearly half a million South Sudanese are either displaced or have become refugees in neighboring countries due to the crisis that began nearly a month ago when tribal warfare broke out.
“Overall, some 413,000 people have been internally displaced since the start of the crisis, with the largest concentrations in Jonglei, Lakes and Unity states,” a report by the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. “Another 74,300 people reportedly crossed into neighbouring countries, including an estimated 10,000 people arriving in Sudan.”
The numbers of those fleeing is steadily rising, too, as some 4,000-5,000 people are crossing into Uganda on a daily basis, the report also estimated. Women, children and the elderly are mostly leaving, while most men are choosing to stay behind, according to U.N. Refugee Agency spokesman Adrian Edwards.
“According to colleagues, many men are taking their families to the Ugandan border and leaving them there before returning back to their country. From the refugees we have spoken to we are hearing eye-witness accounts of killings, houses being burnt and shooting,” Edwards said.
As the world’s newest nation, South Sudan is teetering on disaster after having gained independence only two and half years ago in 2011. Government and rebel forces are fighting over key towns and negotiations — being held in a nightclub at a luxury hotel during the days in Addis Ababa, the capital of neighbouring Ethiopia — have stalled.
Humanitarian Needs and Responses
Aid agencies have reached about 203,000 people with some assistance so far, the OCHA report said. The majority are people who have been displaced into rural areas. The response also continued to around 66,500 who are being sheltered inside U.N. bases.
In the areas where help was already underway, “scaling up water, sanitation and health care remained key priorities, in addition to physical protection from violence.” In areas that humanitarian agencies haven’t accessed yet, those displaced are expected to be in urgent need of food, healthcare, sanitation, shelter and water.
Humanitarian access has remained a major challenge for aid organizations due to the ongoing conflict, with aid flights still unable to land in Bor — the scene of heavy fighting in the last week — due to a lack of safety assurances from Nuer and Dinka leaders, and poor access to other areas, including the towns of Bentiu, capital of Unity state, and Malakal, the capital of the oil-rich state of Upper Nile. Both are considered strategic cities for the warring parties.
Where the refugees are going
Ethiopia is also seeing an upsurge in arrivals. More than 18,600 South Sudanese have crossed into the Akobo area from the Jonglei region and UNHCR is beefing up its staff presence to better monitor new arrivals and respond to their needs.
Kenya has also seen 6,778 arrivals from Jonglei state. Edwards said UNHCR was concerned by the large presence of children among them and was planning a joint assessment mission with UNICEF to find out more about their situation, and the needs – including family reunification or foster care, for those who are separated or unaccompanied.
In Sudan, available estimates are that 10,000 have crossed into West and South Kordofan, two states that are themselves volatile. However, the government of Sudan, with whom South Sudan fought a fierce 21-year war with, disputes the figure of 10,000, claiming in the Khartoum-based Sudan Tribune that it does “not exceed 1,371 individuals, adding that the estimates produced by the U.N. are incorrect.
“The majority are nomads and, so far, we have not been able to verify exact numbers due to lack of access,” Edwards noted in his Geneva briefing.
But Uganda, by far, has the largest influx of refugees, accounting for roughly half the total of people fleeing into neighboring countries.
“In all, 42,654 mostly women and children, from Nimule in South Sudan, are now in the Ugandan districts of Arua, Adjumani and Kiryandongo,” Edwards said.
Fighting still ongoing
Battles were reported on Monday and Tuesday in the states of Jonglei and Upper Nile. Rebels were said to be advancing on Malakal, where citizens have been trying to escape. In one instance, reported on Monday, at least 200 people drowned when their ferry capsized on the White Nile River as they were fleeing renewed fighting in the area around Malakal. The boats are often overloaded to begin with.
The fighting was touched off by a political dispute between former South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar and current President Salva Kiir. Kiir, a Dinka, dismissed Machar, a Nuer, along with the rest of his cabinet in July.
Photographs released on Sunday by the Satellite Sentinel Project, begun by the Enough Project, show scores of huts burned to the ground and other facilities destroyed in various areas.
Over the weekend, the government recaptured Bentiu, the capital of oil-rich Unity state. But the assault on Malakal underscored the rebels’ continued ability to carry out attacks.
“Evidence of atrocities against civilians should be collected and used for future prosecution for war crimes,” the actor George Clooney, a co-founder of the group, said in a statement. “There will be no peace if massive human rights abuses can be committed with no accountability.”