New York - Arab Today
Over the last month alone, some 70,000 South Sudanese crossed the border into Uganda as refugees.
Recently returned from a three-day visit to South Sudan, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien warned on Wednesday that the humanitarian situation in the country has witnessed significant deterioration, including in areas that were once relatively stable. Since December 2013, over two million people have fled their homes. Some 1.6 million are displaced within South Sudan and more than 900,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries.
"Let me be clear: people in South Sudan are not just fleeing their homes because they need food, shelter or medical care and school for their children. They are fleeing [because they] fear for their lives," O'Brien told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York.
The situation has worsened since clashes between rival forces – the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) loyal to President Salva Kiir and the SPLA in Opposition backing First Vice-President Riek Machar – erupted in and around the capital, Juba, on 7 July.
Source : QNA