The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is warning that the arrival of more than 16,000 new displaced people to the Protection of Civilian site in Malakal has created severe congestion and is stretching humanitarian resources to the breaking point.
Non-governmental organization actors working in the camp have told Radio Tamazuj that some of the new arrivals have not yet received humanitarian assistance and many coming from the direction of Wau Shilluk are malnourished.
There are now more than 46,000 IDPs crowded into a site that was designed to hold 18,000 people, according to IOM.
Aid agencies have been constrained in their ability to reach people outside the camp, because of ongoing fighting in the area.
“IOM is doing everything it can to provide services to new arrivals,” said IOM Malakal Field Officer Rainer Gonzalez Palau. “But the current influx is unprecedented and, due to space constraints, IDPs are being allocated space in areas not designed for living space.”
Many people are now forced to live in low-lying areas that could be flooded during the rainy season or to crowd into shelters with their relatives. NGOs are focusing first on services to prevent disease outbreaks, including digging emergency pit latrines and providing safe drinking water.
IOM warned that people would continue to try to access the camp unless aid agencies are given access to communities around Malakal who have been cut off from assistance.
Photo: IDPs at the UN protection of civilians (PoC) site in Malakal, Upper Nile State, South Sudan. © IOM 2015