Millions of South Sudanese escaping fighting do not have access to safe water. UN agencies say water shortages, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene pose additional risks to malnourished children in South Sudan and could lead to fatal diarrhoeal diseases.
The UN children’s agency UNICEF says the conflict has left 5 million people in the country with no access to safe water, basic sanitation and hygiene.
In Aburoc in the northern Upper Nile region, which borders Sudan, tens of thousands of civilians escaping violent clashes between government and opposition forces are struggling to find safe water.
Humanitarian organisations were forced to withdraw from the area last month when fresh fighting erupted.
The deployment of peacekeepers by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has since seen agencies intensify efforts to provide clean drinking water as the threat of a cholera outbreak looms.
“Here we drink water from the stream and whenever we use this water for bathing, we get rashes. Like my skin now has a rash. But what can we do? Nobody is able to stay here. We will go to Sudan because in Sudan, the humanitarian assistance is better,” said Martha Peter, a displaced civilian.
About 17 aid agencies are providing assistance including food, water, sanitation and medical care as well as shelter in Aburoc.
While on a visit to Aburoc, UN humanitarian co-ordinator for South Sudan, Eugene Owusu, said a more lasting solution between warring parties in the conflict must be found.
“This needless conflict is creating untold human suffering and all we are doing as humanitarians and even as UNMISS is really dealing with the consequences of a problem.
The fundamental problem is conflict. We need to fix the politics; we need to stop this needless fighting. The guns have to stay silent to give the South Sudanese the opportunity to live in peace and prosperity and also to live a life of dignity,” said Owusu.
Civil war erupted in South Sudan in late 2013. The fighting has forced more than three million people to flee their homes and plunged parts of the country into famine, creating Africa’s biggest refugee crisis since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.