South Sudan: More Than 60 000 People Have Fled

As fighting continues to escalate in South Sudan, the UN has announced that more than 60 000 South Sudanese people have fled the country.

Fighting broke out between the government and their military and rebel militants in the country four weeks ago.

Since then, fears of a resurgence of civil war has escalated among the locals, prompting people to flee the country.

All in all, close to 1 million people have fled South Sudan since the outbreak of civil war in December of 2013. And even though peace talks were held recently and the civil war declared over, the new outbursts in fighting has scared more people away.

According to the United Nations’ refugee agency, it is estimated that around 52 000 South Sudanese people have fled to neighbouring Uganda, while it is estimated that a further 7000 people have fled to Sudan and around 1000 to Kenya.

Reports are also suggesting that people trying to flee the country was being turned back by armed forces on the roads leading out of the country.

Melissa Fleming, a spokesperson for the UN’s refugee agency, said that at first the government was trying to get people to stay but that it seems to have changed now:

“…At the beginning, we did hear reports that the government was very reluctant to have people leave the country and was hindering people from doing so. Now that seems to be less of the case…[sic] But definitely it’s very difficult to leave without some cash to pay whoever is asking for it at the checkpoints,” she said.