Mingkaman - The ongoing conflict in South Sudan has already uprooted more than 200 000 people from their homes, a United Nations spokesman said.
"The Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that an estimated 201 000 people have been internally displaced by the current crisis in South Sudan since Dec 15," Farhan Haq, the UN acting deputy spokesperson, told reporters at a daily briefing here Wednesday.
"Some 85 000 people are estimated to be displaced in Mingkaman and surrounding areas in Awerial County of Lakes State," Haq added.
According to OCHA, food, healthcare, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene remain the top priorities for humanitarian response, while humanitarian access continues to be constrained by active hostilities, attacks on aid workers and assets, interference with humanitarian activities and other obstacles.
Humanitarian flights into Bor, the capital of Jonglei State, have been severely disrupted as a result of the fighting in the area, said Haq. "Aid agencies continue to engage with all parties to the hostilities to secure safe access to civilians in need," he added.
Aid agencies are also doing contingency planning for any potential additional displacement in the coming weeks and for the rainy season starting in May, said Haq.
The conflict in South Sudan began on 15 December when President Salva Kiir's government claimed that soldiers loyal to former vice-president Riek Machar, who was dismissed by him in July, had launched an attempted coup.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution last week to send a reinforcement of 5 500 troops and 440 policemen to increase the overall force levels of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in an effort to protect civilians.
At a summit of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an eight-nation Horn of Africa grouping, held on Friday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, the bloc issued a communique condemning the violent escalation of conflict and demanding an immediate ceasefire in South Sudan.
The South Sudanese government said earlier that it agreed on the ceasefire, but Machar rejected it, demanding a mechanism to monitor the ceasefire.
Haq said that UNMISS was continuing to protect approximately 62 000 civilians seeking refuge at its bases, with humanitarian actors providing relief and support. - NNN-Xinhua-SAnews.gov.za
