News update: 60 aid workers flee South Sudan fighting, says UN

Juba, April 16 (Jonglei Times)- A surge of fighting in eastern South Sudan has forced 60 aid workers to flee, the UN humanitarian agency said on Saturday, hurting efforts to help civilians in the famine-hit nation.

An increase in violence nationwide has seen thousands flee in the past two weeks, including more than 16,000 from the second-largest city of Wau — above 10 per cent of its population.

The UN humanitarian agency OCHA warned that helping the needy was growing ever more dangerous after three people involved in delivering food aid were brutally killed in Wau this week.

“There are no words left to explain the level of frustration and outrage I feel regarding the continued attacks against humanitarians in South Sudan who are simply trying to help the civilians who are suffering as a result of this conflict,” said OCHA co-ordinator Eugene Owusu in a statement.

“Separately, 60 humanitarian workers have had to relocate from multiple locations in Jonglei yesterday and today — including Waat and Walgak — due to intensified conflict in the area.”

The outbreak of violence in the eastern Jonglei region comes after fierce clashes in southern Pajok and western Wau in the past two weeks.

According to a tally of UN figures and deaths that witnesses reported to AFP, 101 people were killed in the two towns.

The UN peacekeeping mission UNMISS, which has been blocked from accessing some conflict zones, said 13,500 people had fled to their base near Wau this week. More than 3,000 others were seeking refuge at a Catholic church compound.

UNMISS said fighting had also broken out in the western town of Raga and in the north-eastern Upper Nile region.

The special representative for the UN secretary general in South Sudan, Moustapha Soumare, on Saturday called for a halt to fighting, urging “all parties, to prove their commitment to peace.”