The number of South Sudanese who have fled their conflict-ridden homeland for a neighboring country passed 1 million this week following renewed violence, the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said Friday.
Advertisement
Thus, South Sudan can be now compared to Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia – over a million people were forced to flee these countries as well.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that more than one million people have fled the conflict in South Sudan and have taken refuge in neighbouring countries.
South Sudan plunged into civil war in 2013, leaving tens of thousands dead in fighting that occurred largely between ethnic groups aligned with Kiir and Machar. New fighting in July in the capital, Juba, created a surge of more than 185,000 refugees.
South Sudan has been gripped by civil war since 2013.
“The fighting has shattered hopes for a real breakthrough and triggered new waves of displacement and suffering”, he added and said that humanitarian organizations are finding it very hard to provide urgent protection and assistance to the hundreds of thousands in need, including 1.61 million internally displaced people, due to logistical, security and funding reasons.
It continued: “Neighboring 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”. Violent clashes involving tanks, helicopter gunships and heavy weaponry have continued since a peace agreement was signed in August 2015.
Juba: South Sudan’s authorities have shut down a prominent newspaper, the Nation Mirror, the editor said on Wednesday, after it published details of a report released by a US-based group alleging misuse of state funds by the nation’s leaders.
The report said Kiir, former deputy Riek Machar and those close to both men have looted the country in accumulating wealth that includes mansions, luxury cars and stakes in a number of businesses overseas. About 52,000 people have fled to Uganda, 7,000 to Sudan and 1,000 to Kenya.
The U.N. Security Council on September 14 held consultations on South Sudan’s ongoing crisis. The Council has threatened to impose an arms embargo, but has deferred taking action while the warring parties, particularly the government, have steadily expanded their arsenals.
Advertisement
In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Prendergast said the mistake the USA and the worldwide community made in supporting South Sudan’s independence is that they ignored the underlying corruption of the country’s political and military leaders.
