South Sudan Crisis Fact Sheet #28 for Fiscal Year 2014

In the midst of conflict and displacement, public health promoters like Martha Nyadeng are helping families stay disease-free.

Aimee Brown is blogging from South Sudan, where Oxfam is responding to the violence that erupted in December 2013. We are rushing food and clean water to crowded makeshift camps and working to prevent disease outbreaks.

Aimee writes: “The violence of the past seven weeks has seen almost a million people pushed from their homes and, at last estimates, over 10,000 dead. … But amidst this grim picture, there are some signs of hope. The violence enacted along ethnic lines that is keeping so many thousands in makeshift settlements and camps is not universal. Anecdotally, almost everyone I have met since I arrived in South Sudan has told me stories of Dinka protecting Nuer friends in their homes, or Nuer host families welcoming Dinka who have fled fighting.

Even if this is the exception rather than the norm, it shows that it is possible to overcome the recent and distant history of hurt, violence, and loss, and find a common path to peace in this, the world’s youngest country. “

Below, Aimee shares the story of Martha Nyadeng, whom she met at a camp for displaced people.

Martha Nyandeng’s toilets could well be the best-kept latrines in the Mingkamen. She takes a quiet pride in her newly acquired responsibility, cleaning the stalls three times a day and patiently demonstrating to children who play by her washstand how to properly wash their hands.

“I take care of this latrine as my own, not for Oxfam. I keep them clean to prevent us from getting sick,” she says.

Martha, a mother and grandmother, fled across the Nile from her hometown of Bor when fighting broke out in December last year. She arrived in Mingkamen, Lakes State, with her six children and grandchildren, and nothing to her name.

“They looted all my things – they took my clothes, my sheets, my bed. Nothing except the house is left,” she said. “I came here with nothing. I just carried my children and my grandchildren. Even the clothes I am wearing were given to me.”

With no savings or possessions to sell, the small income she makes as an Oxfam public health promoter means she can afford food and medical treatment for her children.

“With the money I earn I can help my family,” she says.

Martha’s husband, an officer in the military, was able to pay for the passage of his family safely across the river, but is now far away on the frontline. Martha doesn’t know exactly where he is, and can’t communicate with him.

“I worry for him. There is no network so I can’t speak with him, I just have to pray to god that he is safe,” she says.

Like so many people here, Martha would like to return to Bor as soon as it is safe enough. But until then, she expresses appreciation for the support provided by Oxfam and other humanitarian actors here in Mingkamen. And she enjoys playing a part in helping others.

“People are learning. It’s good because when they come to the toilet they wash their hands and when they go home the bacteria is removed. They’re preventing diseases,” Martha says.

Oxfam employs 78 public health promoters in Mingkamen settlement as part of its hygiene and sanitation work. The promoters share messages about hygiene, such as the importance of hand washing, proper latrine use, and garbage collection, and teach good practices to others living in the area in order to reduce the spread of diseases.

Highlights

• Latest epidemiological report shows decreasing number of measles cases with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 12% compare to 14% the previous week. To date, UNICEF and partners have immunized 127, 351 children against measles, including the recently concluded vaccination campaign in Malakal during which 15,000 children were reached.

• UNICEF’s Director of Emergency Programmes (EMOPS), Ted Chaiban, visited South Sudan to review the humanitarian situation of children and response to date. He visited displaced communities in Juba, Minkaman and Malakal, and held high-level meetings to agree on ways to accelerate the response and expand outreach beyond Protection of Civilians sites (PoCs).

• UNICEF and partners have provided 187,000 displaced persons with water, with 15 litres of safe water per person per day. UNICEF continues to work to address sanitation coverage in congested sites prior to the onset of the rainy season.

On 7 March, the Security Council will be holding an Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict under the Luxembourg Presidency. This will be one of two thematic debates on Children and Armed Conflict in 2014. The second Open Debate is expected to occur in the months following the 13th Annual Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, expected to be published in June.

The Security Council has succeeded in creating a strong normative framework for the protection of children in armed conflict. However, more remains to be done to ensure that children’s rights are protected in situations of armed conflict, and that parties to conflict who commit grave violations against children are held to account. Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict urged the Security Council to commit to the following actions to strengthen implementation of the Children and Armed Conflict agenda:

1 Take specific and concrete measures to encourage action plan implementation by States and the UN;
2 Call for enhanced engagement by all actors with non-state armed groups for the purpose of ending violations and concluding action plans;
3 Call for enhanced preparedness of Security Sector actors in the face of issues affecting children in situations of armed conflict;
4 Mainstream children and armed conflict concerns in the Security Council’s country-specific work;
5 Revitalize the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict.

Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict is a network of local, national and international non-governmental organizations striving to end violations against children in armed conflicts and to guarantee their rights. This special update is based on the experience of Watchlist and its member organizations in over a decade of engagement with the Security Council’s children and armed conflict agenda.

18 February 2014 - Women had suffered most during the South Sudan conflict, representatives of displaced women living in an UNMISS protection site in Juba said today while meeting UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngucka.

“When the fighting started, we thought it was a war between men but we have been the biggest victims,” said the women leaders.

They added that men had an option to run away or to join the fighting, but women as mothers had to stay with their children and find ways to fend for them.

“All we ask for is peace so that we can go back to our lives,” the representatives said. “We want our children to go home, to school and to get a variety of nutritious food and proper health services.”

The women said they had remained in displacement sites, despite inadequate basic services, because they feared for their safety if they returned to their homes.

“The women here have challenges in relation to health, food and some of the women do not even know where their children and partners are,” said Ms. Mlambo-Ngucka. “It is really hard for the communities, for the women (and) the children. The sooner we find peace, the better it’s going to be for everybody.”

The UN Women chief said it was “important and possible for women to start the journey to peace” and encouraged them to do so.

“They must stay strong,” she said. “They must make sure that for them and for their children, they must continue to be the voice of peace and they must not lose hope.”

Ms. Mlambo-Ngucka said UN Women had also held discussions with negotiating parties in Addis Ababa about including women in the political talks.

“We are happy that women are now included,” she said. “We are now looking at finding ways of getting women … involved in economic (activities).”

Describing the situation for displaced women as “desperate”, Ms. Mlambo-Ngucka said her organization would work with women and support them in areas they identified as feasible where resources were available.

“They’ve asked for help in literacy and rebuilding their lives economically,” she said. “We are trying to understand what opportunities are there which cannot only give them sustenance here, but things that they can take back with them when they go back to their communities.”

Secondary displacement

 Since January 21st, IOM tracking team reported on 709 South Sudanese left White Nile states to Khartoum

 On average, 28 persons leaving White Nile state heading to Khartoum in daily bases

18 February 2014 - Civilians sheltering at UNMISS in the Unity State capital Bentiu have moved to a new, more spacious and better-serviced camp within the mission compound.

UNMISS prepared the site’s ground, ditch and berm, Mongolian soldiers are manning the watchtowers and armed Nepalese police are patrolling the area.

Humanitarians laid out the camp and are providing services in consultation with communities.

Bentiu resident Cristina James, who has been living at UNMISS for three weeks, moved to the new site a few days ago with her three sisters and 11 children (their own and from relatives). There, they constructed their own tukul (thatched hut).

“It took us three days to set up and transfer our family,” she said. “There is more space here and better facilities. The plot that was allocated to us is close to school, water and latrines.

Another resident, Luony Kuk, said security at the new site was “very good”. “There is space to move between the tukuls, so the Nepalese FPUs can patrol freely during the nights. (But) we need more searches to prevent people from brewing alcohol.”

Commenting on the space, she said, “There is enough space to wash clothes and to dry them. There is more space for children.”

Sroana Rusu, Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Field Officer and protection site camp manager, noted the international standard for space was 3.5 square metres per person, but the UNMISS Bentiu ration was currently 5 square metres.

“Local communities advised how numerous … the households (were) and the plots were allocated accordingly,” Ms. Rusu said. “The community representatives (also) brought to DRC attention that in local culture women and men do not sleep in one space and that was taken into consideration.”

Civilians seeking protection began pouring into UNMISS Bentiu on 19 December 2013. Violence had broken out in Juba five days before between pro- and anti-government forces, which rapidly spread to several other states, including Unity.

Four days later, numbers of displaced at the mission had swelled to about 7,000, but current estimations place the figure at 3,000.

As UNMISS is a peacekeeping rather than humanitarian organization, the compound was ill-prepared to host large numbers of people over an extended period of time. Humanitarians with resources and technical knowledge eventually stepped in to manage the site and provide services.

The DRC has been managing it since 15 January, ensuring that services are available and their provision is coordinated.

Ms. Rusu said they had been working to close major service gaps DRC had initially identified in health, nutrition, gender-based violence response and education. “The needs have been largely addressed by now, although the clinics still don’t have surgical capacity, and reproductive and antenatal services are still to be improved.”

The DRC is an international non-governmental organization that has been operating in Unity State since 2012. It has been in charge of setting up and managing Ajuong Thok Refugee Camp in Pariang County, with a capacity of 20,000 people, most of which were relocated from Yida settlement.

The crisis in South Sudan has forced more than 700,000 people to flee their homes in search of safety. The UN World Food Programme has so far provided food assistance for around 250,000 displaced people, and is working to extend more assistance to people we can reach outside UN peacekeeping bases, including those who are returning to devastated towns like Bentiu in Unity State.

Bentiu – At a soccer stadium in Bentiu, John Mathiek Bawar happily shows off his ration card that indicates he is duly registered to receive food from the UN World Food Programme and its partners.

Bawar is among thousands of residents who are gradually returning to the town, which is the capital of Unity State, after fierce fighting forced them to flee to nearby bushes, swamps and villages along the White Nile River.

“I hid with my family for 18 days in the bush,” said Bawar. “We were surviving on plants we pulled out of the river and a little bit of sorghum we had carried with us,” the 31-year-old said.

Bentiu has changed hands twice since fighting erupted in mid-December between factions of the South Sudanese army. After forces backing President Salva Kiir retook the town in mid-January, local authorities have been urging civilians who fled to return.

Many who have heeded to the call have come back to a desolate city, devastated by the fighting. The streets are mostly bare except for patrolling soldiers. Many homes have been destroyed, looted or burnt to the ground. Businesses and offices, including those of WFP and other aid agencies, have been ransacked and looted.

A few markets are reopening, but so far there is very little food for sale, and most people have lost all sources of livelihood.

“Everything in our house is gone, even mattresses, so me, my wife and my children, and our relatives have to sleep on mats on the floor,” said Mawar, a father of six children.

‘I am a trader and had some money in the bank, but when we came back the bank was destroyed. We don’t have a single coin or South Sudanese Pound. I am poor now. We don’t have any food to eat,” he added.

It was with much relief that he greeted news from community leaders that WFP and its partners were going to provide food assistance to returning residents at the Bentiu Independence Stadium and Bentiu Primary School.

Trucks loaded with sorghum, yellow split-peas, vegetable oil and salt moved to the distribution sites from the UN peacekeeping base, where WFP has stored the food stocks salvaged from the agency’s looted warehouses in Bentiu.

“We have been distributing food to the IDPs in the peacekeeping base since the end of last year, and now it is important to do all we can to ensure that the people who have come back to town don’t go to sleep hungry,” said Francis Sarpong, the head of the WFP office in Bentiu.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that the some 720,000 people are internally displaced across South Sudan because of the crisis. The majority – close to 90 percent – are sheltering in locations outside UN bases.

The distribution to returning residents in Bentiu is part of WFP efforts to reach as many of those people with food assistance as possible as they start to rebuild their lives, and the agency is overcoming enormous challenges to do that. Teams have been deployed to remote localities in Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity states, which have been most affected by the fighting.

A report by WFP food security analysts has found that these states were also the most food-insecure prior to the conflict. Moreover, these are the areas with the highest cereal production deficits in the country, and the areas where people spend the highest proportion of their income on food.

“I want to thank the organisations like WFP that have come to our help with food. Now I am hoping my government – which called us to leave the bush where we were hiding and come back to town – will also support me and my children, because we have nothing,” Mawar said.

-- Story by George Fominyen, WFP South Sudan

• Humanitarian Hubs are currently operational in Bor and Awerial

• Contingency planning for the rainy season is underway

• DTM rollout in Unity, Upper Nile, Central Equatoria & Lakes states

• Preparations are being made for expansion of UN House PoC area

Faits saillants

• Quelque 75 000 personnes ciblées pour la phase 2 des interventions au Sud Irumu.
• Fièvre jaune dans la Zone de santé de Buta : il faut une action préventive, selon l’OMS.

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

February 18, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) - The second round of peace talks between South Sudan’s warring parties failed to resume in Ethiopia, over president Salva Kiir’s failure to meet demands of rebels, an official of the SPLM-inOpposition told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday.

Although an opening ceremony for the new phase of the negotiations was officially opened on Tuesday last week in Addis Ababa, the two sides have not yet resumed direct talks after rebels insisted that their demands are met before the next round negotiations resume.

"The talks were delayed because our position on the withdrawal of Ugandan forces and release of the remaining four detainees have not been fulfilled" said Puoch Riek Deng, a public relations officer for the humanitarian liaison office of the rebel delegation in Ethiopia said.

After a fragile ceasefire deal signed in Addis Ababa on 23 January between the South Sudanese government and the SPLM-in-Opposition rebels, Juba freed seven out of the 11 former senior officials on January 29.

The 11 members of South Sudan’s ruling SPLM were detained in the wake of fighting in the capital Juba between members of army, which was the government claim was an alleged coup attempt by disaffected senior politicians, many of whom were sacked by President Salva Kiir in 2014.

The four remaining detainees include, who include Pagan Amum the former SPLM secretary general, are facing charges of treason and staging coup, as is South Sudan’s former vice president Riek Machar who is now leading the SPLM-in-Opposition a loose coalition of defected soldiers, armed civilians and some senior SPLM politicians who oppose Kiir’s leadership.

The rebel official in the Ethiopian capital however said his negotiating team is not boycotting the IGAD mediated talks but they are demanding agreements reached during the first round of negotiations are expedited.

He said the success of the next round of talks depends on the implementation of the previously reached agreements.

The previous ceasefire deal agreement did not bring an end to fighting on the ground and the two sides have continue to accusations over violations of the truce agreement.

"The government continues to violate the cessation of hostilities by attacking our areas" Puoch said adding "We don’t see serious commitment by the government to seek peaceful solution to the conflict".

South Sudanese rebels on Tuesday said they had taken control Malakal, the state capital if Upper Nile a major oil producing area. The government however said the town still remains under its control but the fighting for control of Malakal is the biggest clash since the ceasefire deal.

An estimated 10,000 people have died in the two-month conflict which displaced over 700,000 people within South Sudan and forced almost 150,000 people to flee to nearby countries.

Government representatives in Ethiopia told Sudan Tribune that the assault carried out by rebels was a clear indication of their continued violation of the ceasefire and lack of commitment for political dialogue.

The rebels, however, accuse the South Sudanese army (SPLA) of instigating the latest clashes.

"The government is the one who attacked our positions first, so on self defense we ended up over running their forces" Bor Gatwech, a South Sudanese MP who is now the humanitarian liaison officer for the SPLM/A-in-Opposition, told Sudan Tribune.

IGAD mediators are holding discussions with the two parties to keep the fresh round of talks moving.

Sudan Tribune understands that the agenda for the peace talks is still being drafted. It is feared that the latest clashes may severely hinder the planned peace talks on political, national reconciliation and on identifying the root causes of the conflict.

(ST)

Highlights

• South Sudanese continue to cross the border into Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan. Over 140,000 have arrived since mid-December and UNHCR projects that the number could rise to 320,000 by the end of the year.

• WFP assists new arrivals at border crossings, reception centres and camps, with a particular focus on the nutritional status of children and pregnant and lactating women. Coordination with UNHCR ensures that assistance is timely and effective under difficult circumstances.

• Food pipelines are stretched and WFP requires immediate contributions to meet the needs of those who have recently arrived.

Media Contact
Ajla Grozdanic 202.251.5859

WESTPORT, Conn. (February 19, 2014)— Save the Children is concerned about the fate of more than 21,000 people trapped inside a United Nations base in Malakal, South Sudan, as renewed fighting between government and opposition-led forces rages around them. The renewed fighting, which violates a ceasefire agreed on Jan. 23. 2014, is placing even more children at risk of death, injury, displacement and separation from their parents.

Since the conflict began just more than two months ago, 850,000 people have been forced from their homes and thousands, including children, have been killed. Save the Children’s staff in Bor reported last week that a large number of those being buried in mass graves were children. We are extremely worried that further violence in and around Malakal will place the lives of more children in danger.

Since the conflict began, Save the Children has registered more than 1,250 separated and missing children, many of whom lost their parents in the fighting. A continuation of violence means that this number will rise and that some children will be displaced and separated for a second or third time.

Save the Children calls on all parties to abide by the commitments under the ceasefire agreement and to ensure the protection and care of children who have been affected in this conflict.

**Figure of 21,000 internally displaced persons in United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) base in Malakal comes from here.

Current Situation:

On 18th February, a total of 128 new arrivals were received from Nadapal border and 306 were received on the previous day. This brings the total number of South Sudanese asylum seekers received to 18,020. Consequently, the total estimated camp population is now 147,230. Close monitoring of the daily arrivals and daily interlinked operations in Nadapal and Kakuma continued.

Developments:

UNHCR and DRA continued the dialogue with the host communities in Nakururum area on the requested new land for establishment of another refugee camp. Host communities in the area offered two alternative sites that can be used. The two sites are about 80 km from Kakuma, on the right side of the road as one drives to Lokichoggio. However, this is not a done deal yet as the elders from the opposite side of the road need to be consulted to have a unanimous decision. In the meantime, UNHCR/UNESCO technical team is conducting an assessment on availability of ground water and suitability of the proposed sites for a refugee camp.

This service summarizes current satellite mapping activities of interest to GDACS stakeholders. It is issued weekly and based on contributions from map-producing entities and GDACS partners.

South America

Peru floods – GLIDE number: TBD

Several days of heavy rain caused landslides on 20 January 2014 over the Mantaro River in the Huancavelica Province of Peru. The International Charter Space and Major Disasters was activated on 21 January 2014 by the Argentinean Space Agency (CONAE) on behalf of the National Civil Protection Agency of Peru (INDECI). Analysis of optical and radar satellite imagery acquired 25 and 26 January 2014 provides a three dimensional view of a major landslide’s area and break line near the town of Cuenca. Evidence of a dam caused by the landslide is also shown, along with the resultant upstream flooding of villages along the Mantaro River. A portion of the Mantaro River bed appears to have changed its position as well. Imagery of a smaller landslide alongside this river indicates a disruption of the circulation on Route 3-S. Map products of this event are available for online viewing at the International Charter Space and Major Disasters’ website.

Eight ICRC trucks left Juba on the morning of 9 February 2014 carrying 150 tonnes of food and soap. The goods were for distribution in Minkamen, Lakes State, which has become a temporary home to some of the hundreds of thousands who have fled their homes in recent months because of violence in surrounding areas.

View Slideshow

IGAD Special Envoys for the South Sudan Mediation Process express serious concerns over reports of ongoing clashes in various locations across Upper Nile, Jonglei, Warrap and Unity states. The Envoys deplore the breach of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed by the Government of the Republic of South Sudan and the SPLM/A (in Opposition) on 23rd January 2014 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. These developments will only serve to undermine the ongoing mediation process and the worsening of the suffering of the people of South Sudan.

The IGAD Special Envoys therefore strongly urge the parties to immediately adhere to the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement as well as continue with their strong commitment to the mediation process, given that the crisis in South Sudan cannot be solved by military means, but rather through a political dialogue. The Envoys further call on the parties to fully cooperate to the speedy operationalization of the Monitoring and Verification Mechanism as per the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement.

While appreciating the full cooperation of the Partners of IGAD in this endeavor, the Special Envoys also appeal to the contributing countries to the Joint Technical Committee (JTC) and the Monitoring and Verification Teams (MVTs) to send their representatives in the next couple of days. They further appeal to Partners of IGAD to provide the necessary logistical support for an expeditious operationalization of the Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (MVM).

Issued on 19th February 2014, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

For more information, Contact:
Ms. Tigist Hailu (tigist.hailu@cewarn.org), +251.911.663.514
or Mr. Brazille Musumba (brazille.musumba@igad.int), +254 722 617995

02/20/2014 02:52 GMT

by Waakhe Simon Wudu

JUBA, February 20, 2014 (AFP) - South Sudan's army said Wednesday that it had lost contact with its troops in the key oil hub of Malakal following a major offensive by rebels.

The rebels have said they now control the northeastern town after launching an assault on Tuesday, prompting the US to denounce a "blatant violation" of a ceasefire agreement signed in Ethiopia last month.

"I have no contact with the command in Malakal," army spokesman Philip Aguer told AFP, as the independent radio Tamazuj said a top government general had been seriously wounded in an attack reportedly involving tens of thousands of rebel fighters.

"The oil wells are under the control of the SPLA (the South Sudanese army) and there is no fighting there," Aguer added.

According to aid sources, Malakal's airport was closed on Tuesday evening and rebels were inside the town -- although it was unclear if they had gained total control over the dusty settlement on the banks of the White Nile.

"There was the sound of heavy shelling this morning and then sporadic shooting. It seems the opposition control a part of the town and the airport, but the government soldiers are still fighting," an aid source said.

"We are in no position to confirm who is in control of Malakal town because our people have not been able to get into town," said Joe Contreras, spokesman for the UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

Rebel military spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said opposition fighters were "chasing" government soldiers into the bush, and insisted that it was government soldiers who attacked first and violated the truce.

The United Nations said that 10 people had been killed on Tuesday in "inter-communal clashes" within a peacekeeping base in Malakal, where more that 20,000 people have been sheltering from the fighting, and that more clashes broke out on Wednesday.

Rebel fighters have also been reported to be patrolling outside the UN camp, taunting people from rival ethnic groups.

"Both parties to this conflict must respect the inviolability of the premises and facilities of the United Nations," UNMISS said in a statement.

The unrest in South Sudan has left thousands dead and displaced 873,000 people, including tens of thousands who have crammed into UNMISS bases in fear of ethnic attacks by either President Salva Kiir's Dinka tribe or rebel leader Riek Machar's Nuer tribe.

South Sudan is the world's youngest nation, having won independence from Khartoum less than three years ago.

The latest fighting erupted in the capital Juba on December 15 but quickly spread across the country.

The fighting around Malakal, the capital of Upper Nile state, appears to have been the heaviest to take place since the government of President Kiir and rebels loyal to former vice president Machar signed a ceasefire agreement in neighbouring Ethiopia on January 23.

"We are deeply concerned by reports of extensive fighting in and around Malakal," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters in Washington.

Calling it a "blatant violation of the cessation of hostilities agreement" signed January 23 in Ethiopia, Harf condemned "the failure of both parties" to respect the truce.

On Tuesday, Kiir said he would continue to take part in ongoing but slow-moving peace talks that are underway in Addis Ababa.

The UN appealed at the start of the month for a colossal 1.27 billion dollars (925,000 euros) to respond to the humanitarian crisis, but says it is still one billion dollars short of the target.

str-sas/fb/st

© 1994-2014 Agence France-Presse

02/20/2014 10:53 GMT

JUBA, February 20, 2014 (AFP) - South Sudan's key oil hub of Malakal was Thursday bracing for fresh fighting as government troops vowed to wrest back control of the town from rebel fighters.

The country's army spokesman said the town was divided, and that government troops loyal to President Salva Kiir were preparing to try and force out the rebels allied to ex-vice president Riek Machar.

"It is a contested town, and you may expect gunfire at any moment. The SPLA will resolve this mess at any moment," army spokesman Philip Aguer told AFP.

The rebels, he alleged, "have killed people in the hospital, have killed people in the church." Thousands of rebels marched into the dusty settlement on Tuesday, in defiance of a ceasefire signed in neighbouring Ethiopia on January 23.

According to reports from independent sources, the town has been left littered with dead bodies and with rebel fighters controlling a part of Malakal, including the airport, and government troops positioned in the south.

Aguer said on Wednesday that government forces were still in charge of Upper Nile state's crucial oil fields.

The unrest in South Sudan, the world's newest nation, has left thousands dead and displaced 873,000 people, including tens of thousands who have crammed into UN bases in fear of ethnic attacks by either President Kiir's Dinka tribe or Machar's Nuer tribe.

The conflict broke out in the capital Juba on December 15 amid tensions within the ruling party, but quickly spread across the country.

str-sas/yad

© 1994-2014 Agence France-Presse

SOS Children’s Villages Doing Everything Possible to Ensure Safety of Children and Co-workers

Despite the ceasefire signed on 23 January 2014 between the Government of South Sudan and rebels loyal to the former vice president, Riek Machar, fighting resumed in the town of Malakal on the morning of 18 February. Malakal is the capital of Upper Nile state, strategically important because of its links to oil revenues. It is also the location of an SOS Children's Village - home to over 120 children and young people, together with SOS mothers and other co-workers.

According to Kiros Aregawi, the project manager for the SOS Children’s Village in Malakal, an unnamed source claimed that the fighting was very heavy and coming from three different directions. While some families have remained in the SOS Children's Village, others have taken refuge in a local Catholic church or are sheltering at the UN Mission for South Sudan (UNMISS) base, which is already harbouring thousands of displaced persons. In addition, an SOS youth leader has taken some of the children across the River Nile to relative safety.

Mr Aregawi, who is currently in Juba, has held discussions with the Civilian Protection Officer at UNMISS Malakal, and arrangements are underway to erect tents to house SOS families and youth. However, transport to the base, especially now that fighting has resumed, is a challenge.

Mr. Aregawi and his team are doing everything possible to ensure the safety of the children and SOS co-workers.