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UNHCR decries renewed clashes, displacements in South Sudan

Xinhua, July 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on Friday decried renewed violence in parts of South Sudan which has resulted in forced displacements.

In a statement, UNHCR said South Sudan currently ranked among the countries with the highest levels of conflict-induced population displacement globally.

"Nearly one in four of the South Sudan's citizens is displaced within its borders or in neighboring countries, affecting some 2.6 million people against a population that stood at 11.3 million in 2013. A large majority are children," UNHCR said.

Despite the formation of a national unity government in April ended more than two years of civil war, conflict and instability persist in parts of South Sudan, and has spread to previously unaffected areas in the Greater Equatoria and Greater Bahr-El-Ghazal regions, according to UNHCR.

The statement comes as clashes in Wau, South Sudan last week killed more than 40 people with up to 35,000 fleeing their homes.

President Salva Kiir and former rebel leader Riek Machar signed a peace deal under UN pressure last August, which led to the formation of the unity government and the return of Machar to his old post as first vice president.

The civil war killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced about 2.3 million, with over 860,000 South Sudanese refugees living in neighboring countries.

"In the nine months that the ceasefire has been observed, there has been no major return movement from countries of asylum. In that period, the number of internally displaced people rose by 100,000, while UNHCR registered nearly 140,000 new refugees," the statement said.

UNHCR says South Sudan is now the world's fourth largest refugee producing country and the second largest in sub-Saharan Africa after Somalia.

According to UNHCR, civilians in South Sudan continue to bear the brunt of armed conflict, adding sporadic clashes are commonplace, while growing food insecurity and deteriorating economic conditions foretell a grim outlook for the country at large. Endit