The number of people who have fled South Sudan because of the country’s civil war has passed the one million mark, the United Nations refugee agency says.
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South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, has now joined “Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia as countries which have produced more than a million refugees”, Leo Dobbs, spokesman for the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, said on Friday.
South Sudan’s government is challenging a new report by a US -based watchdog group that says the country’s leaders have amassed wealth overseas amid a conflict in which tens of thousands have been killed. However, in July, they said that the truce was over and the fighting resumed in the country.
The UNHCR said over 185,000 people had fled South Sudan since the renewed fighting which erupted in the capital in Juba early July between forces led by President Salva Kiir and those loyal to former first vice president Riek Machar.
Smaller numbers of South Sudanese refugees have fled to Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic. “They keep coming; over the past week more than 20,000 new arrivals were recorded, primarily through the Oraba crossing in the northwest”.
Sudan on Sunday threatened to shut its border with South Sudan used by refugees fleeing conflict if Juba failed to “fulfil its commitment” of expelling insurgent groups battling Khartoum. This “while much of their country’s population suffers from the consequences of a brutal civil war and, in many places, experiences near-famine conditions”, the report said.
The UN has reported that the new arriving refugees spoke of increased fighting and attacks by armed groups that kill civilians, loot villages, sexually assault women and girls, and recruit young boys.
“Women and children continue to face increasing socio-economic rights violations as a result of the ongoing conflict”, Sooka said. Those in the two Darfurs cite growing unrest and heightened food insecurity, especially in the north-western states of Northern Bahr El Ghazal and Warrap, as their reasons for flight.
Neighboring Uganda, which already shelters 375,000 South Sudanese, warned it was running out of resources and asked for support.
Smaller numbers have been fleeing to Kenya, DRC and vehicle since the return to conflict in July. Some 40,000 refugees are estimated in DRC.
A baby in the queue for food at a camp for displaced people near the United Nations base in Juba, South Sudan. The humanitarian situation in South Sudan has witnessed significant deterioration, including in areas that were once relatively stable.
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The money that the South Sudan elites were able to obtain was then hidden in various worldwide ventures including resource companies, banks, real estate and luxury cars, according to Sentry.
