A fresh wave of fighting near Malakal, capital of South Sudan’s Upper Nile state, has displaced and trapped tens of thousands of displaced people who are again paying an heavy price.
Only this time, the war is being waged between rival South Sudanese power camps split largely along ethnic lines, spinning off splinter forces loyal to local commanders – all of which is driving the conflict to more complex heights and the people to more hapless depths.
According to UN,Ever since civil war broke out between forces loyal to South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and rebels allied with his former deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer, more than 2 million people have been displaced.
With most of the displaced abandoning their lands and fighting making it difficult for aid agencies to reach certain areas, the humanitarian situation is grim.Tens of thousands are believed to have been killed in the 18-month war, although there is no clear toll. At least 129 children were killed in May in the northern state of Unity, scene of some of the heaviest fighting in the civil war, UNICEF added.
