At least eight South Sudanese refugees died on Saturday because of a lack of medical care and inadequate living conditions in a camp located in Jebel Awliya, south of Sudan’s capital Khartoum, a camp leader said.

Sultan James Adol Mayen, leader of New Sudan Refugee Camp, told Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday that the dead included three women, warning that more deaths are likely to flow if there is no intervention from the relevant authorities.

"We buried eight people on Saturday. Our living conditions are very bad because we do not have food, medicines, tarpaulins and rainwater is besieging us from all directions,” he explained.

The camp leader further said more than 20,000 South Sudanese refugees living in the camp suffer from hunger and have been neglected.

“Has our government forgotten us?  Are we not South Sudanese citizens? If we are not citizens, why don't they tell us so that we know our fate?” he asked.

Adol urged the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Sudanese authorities and South Sudan’s embassy in Khartoum to urgently intervene and provide humanitarian aid to the refugees.

Separately, Sultan Simon Maper, the leader of Al-Shiqla Refugee Camp, said there were no casualties among refugees in their camp after heavy rains led to the collapse of several houses in Khartoum.

He appealed to the various humanitarian organizations to provide refugees with tents, food and medicines.

South Sudan government officials could not immediately be reached for comment.