South Sudan receives thousands fleeing Sudan conflict

YORUBA, South Sudan (AA) – Over 10,000 people have arrived in South Sudan since fighting broke out between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan.

The returnees and refugees have reportedly arrived in the border town of Renk in Upper Nile state and Aweil North County in Northern Bahr El Ghazal state.

Kak Padiet, a local official in Renk, described the influx as alarming.

“Three-quarters of the arrivals are South Sudanese, while the rest are Sudanese, Eritreans, Kenyans, Ugandans and Somalis,” Padiet shared.

“On Sunday alone, we received 3,000 people, and on Saturday about 6,500 people came and many people are still on the way. Now they’ve stopped coming due to transport (issues).”

“On Sunday, I was at the border, and we also received 15 Kenyans, 15 Somalis, 15 Ugandans and 65 Eritreans. This is the number that came yesterday from Sudan. We have taken them to Paloch oil field so that they are transported to Juba.”

Padiet urged non-governmental organizations to support these people.

One of the returnees said he walked for 10 hours from where he was staying in Khartoum to get transport to the border town of Renk.

“It wasn’t easy for me to reach South Sudan. I really suffered. But thank God, one of my friends assisted me. He paid for my transport and I managed to reached South Sudan safely.”

He said those who could not manage to walk that distance are stuck and are not sure when they will be able to reach South Sudan.

Acting Foreign Minister Deng Dau Deng Malek said, “There is an urgent need now as we speak to support the government of Upper Nile State, the county of Renk. They need fuel. They need cars, people in Khartoum and other places, and they need money.

“As we evaluate the risk and safety, there should be no problem for our people in coming by that road, since we are not part of that fighting and we are talking to all parties to return to the negotiation table,” Malek said.