Authorities in Abyei say that more than 600 families from Abiemnom County in Unity State have arrived in the area. They were forced to flee their homes because of the violence in South Sudan.
In December last year, Unity State witnessed fierce fighting between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir, and the rebels under the command of former Vice-President Dr Riek Machar.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj from Abyei’s Agok Administrative Unit on Tuesday, Dieu Bol Deng, humanitarian aid officer in Abyei, confirmed that more than 600 households from Abiemnom County have sought refuge in the area of Agok.
He said that the new arrivals in the area of Agok, and also in Rumamer are suffering from a lack of clean drinking water, food, shelter, and medicines.
Deng said that the Humanitarian Aid Department in Abyei, in coordination with humanitarian organizations in the area, started to provide essential services to the affected refugees of Abiemnom.
File photo: Refugees walking between Jau and Yida (Radio Tamazuj)
Related: ‘20,000’ South Sudanese flee to Sudan, but are ‘no refugees’ (23 January 2014)