About 60,000 people have fled South Sudan since fighting broke out between rival army factions in July, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says.
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More than 50,000 South Sudanese and 59 aid workers have been killed since civil war erupted in the country in December 2013.
FILE – In this Friday, April 29, 2016 file photo, the then South Sudan’s First Vice President Riek Machar, left, looks across at President Salva Kiir, right, as they sit to be photographerd following the first meeting of a new transitional coalition government, in the capital Juba, South Sudan.
Recent clashes between supporters of President Salva Kiir and his now-former deputy, Riek Machar, threw into turmoil a transitional government created to end the conflict.
According to local broadcaster, eNews Channel Africa, (eNCA), Kamal Ismail, Sudan’s minister of state in the foreign ministry said South Sudan’s Vice President Taban Deng had vowed to expel the rebels within 21 days during his visit to Khartoum in August.
Neighbouring Sudan hosts the third largest number of South Sudanese refugees, 247,317, and people continue to come to the country’s East Darfur, South Darfur and White Nile states.
Those refugees have been uprooted due to violence stemming from the country’s civil war that started in 2013.
The conflict has also fueled hunger and disease in the country of 11 million people, already one of the world’s poorest.
The United Nations said that South Sudan joins Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia as countries that have produced over one million refugees.
“They include survivors of violent attacks, sexual assault, children that have been separated from their parents or traveled alone”, he said in a summary of the briefing online.
“Many refugees arrive exhausted after days walking in the bush and going without food or water”, UNHCR said. The government calls the plan a violation of its sovereignty.
As Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan Donald Booth made clear last week during congressional testimony, the Department of State is pursuing measures it can take to deter corruption by South Sudanese officials.
Last month, the Security Council authorized thousands of additional peacekeeping soldiers to be assigned to South Sudan to protect civilians, despite the government’s objections.
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US -based investigative group The Sentry, co-founded by Clooney and John Prendergast of the Enough Project, published a wide-ranging report on Monday that claimed that top South Sudanese officials-including President Salva Kiir and deposed vice-president Riek Machar- had benefited financially from the country’s civil conflict.
