Over 1000 Mundri IDPs in needs of food and medical assistance

February 23, 2016 (YEI) – More than 1, 500 internally displaced persons who fled insecurity threats in Mundri and Maridi counties in South Sudan last year for the newly-created Yei River State are in dire need of food and medical assistance, officials said.

Those displaced said they received food rations for two months from World Food Program, which were distributed in November 2015. Till now, they have not received any.

“We are really suffering; we don’t have something to eat. We last having got some food in November last year. We appeal to the government to look into our problems”, said Samuel Martin, a man who owns a family of seven children.

Those displaced, said Martin, are sheltering in temporary small grass thatched huts with too much heat. They have decried the suffering they undergo when heavy rains start.

“You can see it for yourself, we call ourselves as south Sudanese but miserable and poor South Sudanese who were forced to sleep in places that can be compared to either animals or guerrilla fighters. We don’t know where to sleep when rain begins. We don’t have tents here” he further narrated.

However another woman, only identified as Awadia complained that they were facing a lot of problems when it comes to accessing clean drinking water.

“You can see this water which I have just fetched from the bore hole. It’s yellow and red in colour we used to boil and drink this. But the worry is that the nearby area women have denied us to fetch water from wells and boreholes they are getting water from,” said Awadia.

“We always end up in quarrels and fighting with them. I would best suggest that let the
government repair for us this bore hole so that we can access water
from” she added.

Awadia said they were still lacking medical services at the displaced peoples’ camp.

‘There are many cases of people who are sick sleeping without even a single parasatmol tablets to swallow,” she said

Awadia expressed concerns that over 500 children were without education at the camp.

“Since we came here for nearly two years, our children are without education. What is affecting us so badly is on the future of our children”, she stressed.

Officials from Yei county’s Relief and Rehabilitation Commission were not readily available to commet on challenges raised by the internally displaced people in the area.

(ST)