36 000 People Displaced in South Sudan
As violent clashes between the country’s military and ex-rebels continue to escalate, the United Nations has said that around 36 000 people in South Sudan have been displaced.
South Sudan has just come out of a three-year long civil war, but fighting reignited last week Friday between the army – under command of President Salva Kiir and the former rebels under command of Vice President Riek Machar.
Both Kiir and Machar have declared separate ceasefires in the meantime.
However, while there have been calls for a ceasefire, a spokesperson for UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, Stephane Dujarric, said that they estimate that close to 36 000 people have been displaced since the violent clashes erupted last week.
He continued saying that around 5000 of the 36 000 displaced people have sought refuge at at a UN compound in the capital city of Juba.
They also said that some of the government’s troops fired shots at the compound, and in the process killed at least eight civilians.
According to the government, approximately 272 people have been killed since the violence erupted, with an estimated 33 of them being civilians.
The UN called the humanitarian situation in South Sudan “grave” and also said that most of the refugees living in the compounds are women and children.
