Claims rebels blocking humanitarian aid in Jonglei

June 26, 14 (BOR) – The commissioner of Jonglei state’s Uror county, Mabior Bol, has lashed out at rebel fighters for blocking humanitarian aid to conflict-affected areas.

He said the blockade is affecting over 100,000 people suffering acute food shortages in Lou Nuer areas.

Bol accused the armed opposition of deliberately blocking aid to people in rebel-controlled areas.

“The government wants civilians to get food, education, health, all that [is] needed, but in the places where rebels are [the] government will not reach because the rebels don’t want,” he said in comments to the media in Jonglei’s capital, Bor, on Thursday.

The state’s acting director of South Sudan’s Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRRC), Jok Alier, said the commissioner had arranged to supply humanitarian aid to northern rebel-held areas, but ongoing insecurity in the region had made it increasingly difficult to do so.

“Relief activities are supposed to go ahead in those places control[led] by rebels, and we are coordinating this with humanitarian partners in Bor to facilitate this,” said Alier.

Thousand of people in Nyirol, Uror, Ayod and Akobo counties were said to have
either sought refuge in Ethiopia’s northern region of Gambela or were camped in hard to reach places behind rebel positions, making delivery of relief supplies almost impossible.

(ST)