As worsening violence in South Sudan drives more people to run for their lives, the UN Refugee Chief is calling on warring parties, regional states and the international community to look for urgent ways to find peace.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi made the call during a visit to Al-Nimir refugee camp in East Darfur, Sudan, where he met South Sudanese refugees and their local hosts.
“Most of them say that the main worry is war, it’s conflict, threatening their children, threatening the women, threatening their livelihoods, their homes. But coupled with lack of food and of course one thing compounds the other, clearly,” said Grandi.
South Sudan was plunged into war in 2013 after a political disagreement between President Salva Kiir and opposition leader and former vice president Riek Machar strained relations between the two. Kiir then sacked Machar as his deputy, triggering fighting between forces loyal to both men.
Kiir hails from the Dinka while Machar is a Nuer and the rivalry between the two tribes has meant much of the fighting and violence has unfolded along ethnic divisions.
Sadia Mohamed and her children are amongst 400,000 South Sudanese refugees who fled to Darfur.
The 42-year-old mother of seven left after her home was attacked in June, and travelled for more than a month to find safety.
“You were afraid?” asked Grandi.
“We were afraid because there was a lot of shooting. There were explosions and shooting everywhere. We just had to protect the children and run with them,” added Sadia.
Sadia lost everything. She hopes she can rebuild her life here.
“I would like my children to continue with education. I had some income generating activities back at home, but here I have nothing to do. I cannot provide a good life for my children,” she said.
During his visit to Sudan, Grandi also highlighted the country’s key role in hosting hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese refugees.
Sudan has registered some 170,000 new arrivals so far this year.
“I was impressed by the hospitality that is provided here in this particular location by the local community to the refugees,” Grandi added.
More than 1.8 million people have fled the country since fighting erupted in 2013, and the refugee crisis could worsen as efforts to restore peace have so far proven unsuccessful.
“This is very sad that after all these months of bleeding its population outside, South Sudan has not yet found peace and this is really the responsibility of its leadership, of its opposition to start behaving responsibly,” said Grandi.
The conflict in South Sudan has created Africa’s biggest refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and U.N. agencies are receiving a fraction of the cash they need to provide food and shelter.
