Violence that rocked the Malakal protection site on Wednesday night and Thursday has pushed tens of thousands of people into crowded and chaotic living conditions at a UN base while aid workers are struggling to treat at least 91 injured people, many with gunshot wounds.

Malakal's Protection of Civilians site on the northern outskirts of town had sheltered more than 40,000 people at a fenced site adjoining a UN peacekeeping base.

Groups of displaced people clashed over the last two days, joined by SPLA soldiers who infiltrated the site. Civilians were attacked in their homes and fire has gutted parts of the POC camp, leaving many people who were already desperately poor with nothing.

Today the UN Refugee agency reports that SPLA soldiers who had entered the UN Protection Site are thought to have left the camp and peacekeepers have “taken control of the POC site.” Only sporadic gunshots were heard this morning.

Some 4,000 displaced Dinka residents of the POC have fled to Malakal town, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), while tens of thousands of Nuer and Shilluk camp residents sought refuge in crowded spaces belonging to the UNMISS base in Malakal, without shelter, food and water and forced to defecate in the open.

Two clinics in the Malakal protection site, one run by IOM and the other by International Medical Corps (IMC), were looted. The chief of IOM in South Sudan David Derthrick says the descruction of these humanitarian facilities “severely hinders” the aid agency's ability to assist the most vulnerable.

IOM estimates that the number of injured is at least 91, with this number expected to rise as humanitarian workers gain access to the affected areas of the POC site to assess the situation.

The medical aid charity MSF, which also runs a hospital in Malakal, says that in the first 18 hours of fighting they treated 73 wounded. “Most have been admitted with gunshot wounds.”

Dinka camp residents who fled into Malakal town have found shelter in churches and schools, UNHCR says, citing sources in the government, which controls Malakal.

Malakal town itself had been largely already abandoned prior to this outbreak of violence, with the town occupied primarily only by SPLA soldiers. The town was devastated in back-and-forth fighting in 2014 and 2015, forcing the population to flee to neighboring areas, countries or into the POC site.

Aid agencies dispatched emergency workers and supplies to Malakal today. IOM says it is sending 6.5 metric tons of emergency relief items, including tents for medical assistance, via cargo flight.

The aid group is also scrambling to install temporary water points for the displaced. UNHCR says it fears that up to 26,000 people may have been displaced by fighting.

“Humanitarian partners installed water points for the civilians displaced inside the UNMISS base. Health partners have mobilized to take care of the wounded... A number of IDPs in critical conditions were medically evacuated to Kodok and Juba,” UNHCR said in a statement.

Meanwhile, demonstrations were held yesterday at POC sites in the South Sudan capital, Juba, with hundreds of IDPs protesting in solidarity with communities in Malakal.

Eugene Owusu, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, says he is “deeply saddened by the tragic killing of at least 18 people, including two aid workers.”

He pointed out that the POC site was “established as a place of refuge for people fleeing for their lives. It is absolutely unacceptable that this place of refuge has become a site where people have been killed and injured.” 

Photo courtesy of IOM

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