More civilians continue to flock in to UN camp as fighting escalates in Unity state
June 10, 2015 (BENTIU) – Thousands of people have been flowing into the United Nations protection of civilians site in Unity state as fighting further escalates between the two rival armies loyal to president Salva Kiir and opposition leader, Riek Machar.
Aid agencies have warned of increasing number of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the Bentiu camp due ongoing fighting and unfavourable conditions brought about by the beginning of the rainy season.
Between last weekend and this week the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Danish Refugee Council (DRC) said they have registered over 15,000 new arrivals in the camp.
Bentiu civilian protection site is one of the most crowded camps in the country with 68,000 IDPs already living in the compound according to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
Ruon Kuol, chairman for the internally displaced persons in Bentiu town told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday that the number of new arrivals could be higher as more people were on their way to the state capital.
He said the camp had become smaller for people to settle in, calling for more expansion of the site. Kuol also said the UN was yet to provide many of the new arrivals with facilities for shelter and other necessities.
“We have been receiving a huge number of people every day, and this could be an indication that more people are still on their way to reach us here,” he said.
He told Sudan Tribune that majority of new arrivals were children and women who were in desperate journey from long distances to reach safer place like the UN camp.
Majority of people that fled their homes for several weeks following recent renewal of violence between the warring groups were still living in fear in the bushes, he said, adding that most of the people in far south from the state capital feared to take risky long walks to the United Nations camp in Bentiu town due to threats of being killed on the road.
He also said it was equally difficult for aid agencies to move freely into those areas where the civilians were hiding due to insecurity and poor road accessibility.
South Sudan armed conflict erupted in md-December 2013 when internal political debates on reforms within the ruling SPLM party turned violent. The civil war has now gone on for 18 months while peace talks have not yet yielded fruit.
Although another round of talks may be scheduled for this month in Addis Ababa, many civilians in the country are not optimistic about return of peace and stability to the fragile state as the war spreads to other previously relatively calm regions of Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria.
(ST)