Violence against aid workers on the rise in S. Sudan: UN
June 15, 2016 (JUBA) – Violent incidents against aid workers operating in South Sudan increased during the month of May, despite efforts to assist thousands of vulnerable people in the war-torn nation, the United Nations humanitarian agency (OCHA) said in a recent report.
These numbers, it said, was higher than in April, when 48 incidents were reported, and also higher than the monthly average of 63 incidents reported from January to March.
“Road and river travel for humanitarians continues to be hazardous,” partly reads the OCHA report.
It said violent incidents, including shooting, ambushes, assaults, harassment and robberies, increased during May, and included the killing of three humanitarian workers, bringing the reported number of aid workers killed in South Sudan to 55 since the conflict began in December 2013.
Since January, there have reportedly been 29 incidents of vehicles robberies as they travel to assess, deliver and pre-position items in various part of the young nation.
“In Upper Nile, humanitarian partners were shot at while attempting to cross the River Nile to deliver humanitarian assistance between Malakal and Wau Shilluk on 26 and 30 May,” the agency disclosed.
According to OCHA, nearly 4,500 internally displaced people departed the Bentiu Protection of Civilians site in May, bringing the population in the site to about 95,000 at the end of the month. Most of those departing, it said, plan engaging in farming in Rubkona, Guit and Koch counties.
About 103,400 people have been reached with food rations distributed outside the Bentiu Protection of Civilians site, including in Bentiu Town, Ding Ding, Kuach, Nhialdiu, Nimni, Bil, Kadet and Jazeera since February, while seeds and fishing kits have been provided to about 7,400 households in Guit County and 10,000 in Koch County, OCHA revealed.
(ST)