An estimated 8,000 people are living in desperate conditions inside the UN base in Bentiu. Sudanese traders who sought shelter there are calling on their government to send a plane for evacuation, saying they face hunger and disease and still fear for their lives.
Bentiu is still in the hands of SPLA defectors led by James Koang, who declared himself military governor of the state 20 December, whereas northern parts of the state remain under control of loyal elements of the national army, putting the town potentially at risk of attack.
Most of the people who fled to the UN base in the city are Dinka, with a significant number of north Sudanese as well. “The camp is overcrowded,” said a Sudanese trader in the camp. “They have not enough latrines so it has become very dirty.”
The trader said that WFP had distributed sorghum and the Red Cross came with some supplies, but added: “You cannot depend on sorghum alone, but you have to find vegetables. There is still a market functioning, but some of us went there and they were killed. Many trying to go there have been robbed. Now the camp security told us not to go out anymore.”
United Nations agency OCHA also confirmed the difficult situation, stating in a report Saturday that the humanitarian response to the civilians inside the base was hampered by a lack of staff on the ground, amid concerns of potential cholera and measles outbreaks. The agency disclosed also that a measles vaccination campaign in Bentiu was suspended due to lack of supplies.
Sudanese in the camp say they are scared: “The UN cannot protect us. In the first days the militia came even into the camp and they took some people out of the camp. That has stopped, but people are afraid of the militias outside.”
“We want our government also to help us. We are here with hundreds of families,” a trader from Darfur told Radio Dabanga, calling for evacuation. He pointed out that the Ethiopians who were in the camp have already been evacuated.
Battle for Mayom
SPLA as early as Wednesday morning a week ago says it retook full control over Mayom, a town to the west of Bentiu, but fighting appears to have continued.
Government forces in the area include elements of the SPLA 3rd Division and elements of the 4th Division, only a fraction of which remained loyal to the Kiir government.
They are supported also by troops of the recently integrated former rebel movement South Sudan Liberation Army, led by Matthew Pul Jang, who is native to the area.
Riek Machar’s group last week claimed that Pul Jang was captured during the fighting over Mayom. SPLA Chief of Staff James Hoth Mai, asked by Radio Tamazuj to confirm the report, denied vehemently, saying on Wednesday he was in command of the operation to retake Mayom and had succeeded in doing so.
“Pul Jang is in control now, he’s in command in Mayom now, he’s not captured. He has captured Mayom. He is safe and he is now with Maj-Gen. Magok Marol together. Now they are moving, going toward Bentu. He’s okay, he is alive,” he said.
Last Friday the SPLA again claimed to be in full control of Mayom, saying it would soon advance on Bentiu. But a witness on Friday who traveled with rebel troops in the county suggested the area was still contested.
He claimed that the frontline at that time was about 4 km from Mayom in the direction of Abiemnhom. According to the witness, the SPLA 3rd Division attacked the area but were pushed back, with losses of men and artillery which fell into the hands of the defectors.
“There were some corpses around, very many. Approximately the number that I saw can be more than 50 or 100 in an open area,” he added, specifying that he saw this near the Vivacell tower on the Mayom outskirts.
Aguer said that fighting continued on Saturday with SPLA capturing 6 vehicles from the defected 4th Division and destroying two heavy mounted Zoo 23 Oran trucks.
‘Bridges destroyed’
SPLA spokesman Col. Philip Aguer confirmed again Monday that fighting continued in Mayom, despite earlier announcements that town had been retaken. “The troops of Machar have destroyed four bridges in Unity State,” he claimed. He was apparently not referring to the crucial Bentiu-Rubkona bridge, however, since that bridge is still intact.
Since the outbreak of fighting several thousands of civilians left Mayom for Twic County in Warrap State. Others including Sudanese traders fled via Abiemnhom toward Abyei or South Kordofan.
Photo: IDPs at the UN base in Bentiu, 24 December 2013 (UNMISS/Anna Adhikari)
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Two traders killed and one man kidnapped near UN base in Unity State (3 Jan.)
Unity State economy in collapse as traders flee to Abiemnhom (1 Jan.)
Bodies in South Sudan ‘mass graves’ collected by South Sudan Red Cross (24 Dec.)