Dozens of people displaced from Bor, a town about 180 km (108 miles) north of the capital Juba, are living in harsh conditions near the Juba main market because of lack of food and medicines.
People living at the Islamic Institute next to Konyo Konyo market told Radio Tamazuj today that they did not receive any humanitarian aid either from relief organizations or government agencies, but only something from the Islamic Da’wa organization.
Civilians fleeing from Bor normally do not take up residence inside the two main IDP camps in Juba primarily because of fear of tensions with those civilians inside the two UN bases, who are ethnically different.
Sarah Nyikong, one of the displaced in the Konyo Konyo market area, said, “The children are tired and sick,” adding, “We need shelters, food for children, and medicines for children”
Many children at the site have been separated from their parents as a result of the chaotic flight from Bor, which was overrun by defected soldiers in mid-December and not finally recaptured and held until about a month later.
Nyikong referred to the death of a newborn baby, and asked for the concerned authorities to expedite the provision necessities to the displaced.
The Director for Emergency Response at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Alison Barnaba, said the situation of the displaced population from Bor at the Islamic Institute had actually improved.
In an interview today he also noted that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs is not tasked with providing relief materials to those affected, but rather has a role limited primarily to supporting communications and assessments.
Related coverage:
Many unaccompanied children escaping violence in Bor arrive in Juba (3 Jan.)
File photo: Children at the Islamic Institute in Konyo Konyo, Juba, 5 January 2014 (Radio Tamazuj)