Roundup: South Sudan's recent fighting uproots 60,000 to neighbouring countries

More than 60,000 South Sudanese have fled to neighbouring following heavy fighting which broke out in the capital Juba last month, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the displacement brings the overall number of South Sudanese refugees in neighboring countries since December 2013 to nearly 900,000.

"Both Kenya and Uganda are reporting rising cases of severe malnutrition, particularly among very young children. Those found to be suffering are being placed on food nourishment programmes to bring them back to health," UNHCR said in a statement received in Juba.

It said refugee flows from South Sudan into Uganda have doubled in the past ten days, bringing the total to more than 52,000 who have entered the country since violence escalated three weeks ago.

According to UNHCR, Kenya has reported the arrival of 1,000 refugees in the same period, while 7,000 have fled to Sudan.

The statement comes amid heavy clashes between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar which erupted again over the weekend.

The UN refugee agency reminded all parties to the conflict in South Sudan of fundamental human right to seek asylum and urged them to ensure that civilians are provided with unhindered access to safety as the number of refugees crosses a worrying milestone.

With over 2.6 million of its citizens forcibly displaced, the world's youngest nation currently ranks among the countries with the highest levels of conflict-induced population displacement globally. Half the population relies on humanitarian aid.

"Inside South Sudan, where aid agencies are concerned about inability to provide urgent help to needy populations, the generalized collapse in the protection of civilians is also affecting many of the 250,000 refugees, mainly from Sudan, Ethiopia, and the DRC," it said.

Since the outbreak of fighting in Juba, UNHCR access to 2,000 Ethiopian refugees living in Gorom camp near the capital has been severely curtailed, due to insecurity on the road and militarization of the area surrounding the camp, leaving them extremely vulnerable.

"The camp is surrounded by military barracks; movements of soldiers through the camp and sporadic gunfire have still been reported by refugees," it said.

"The refugees bring disturbing reports that armed groups operating on roads to Uganda are preventing people from fleeing South Sudan," UNHCR added.

It said refugees have also reported that armed groups operating across different parts of South Sudan are looting villages, murdering civilians and forcibly recruiting young men and boys into their ranks.

New arrivals from Yei, a medium-sized city in the southwest, say they received letters warning them to evacuate the town in anticipation of conflict between rebel and government forces. Endit