At least 586 people have died in South Sudan during 2013 as a result of violent clashes between groups. Fighting has newly displaced at least 159,130 people throughout South Sudan, according to statistics of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). Around 100,000 people left due to the violence in Jonglei state.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon informed this week the Security Council about inter-communal violence in Jonglei, particularly in the northern counties where Lou Nuer and Dinka youths from Akobo, Uror, Nyirol, Duk and Ayod mobilized and moved south into Pibor County to attack Murle youth, as well as the David Yau Yau armed group.

While UNMISS has not been able to verify the casualty figures on the Murle side, the Pibor County Commissioner provided a list of at least 328 allegedly killed. On 20 October, an armed attack in Twic East County by a group of men wearing unidentified green uniforms reportedly led to at least 56 people being killed and at least 49 seriously wounded, in addition to 20 children abducted.

Several thousand Murle civilians have moved in recent months to Juba and other localities in Central Equatoria state. Tensions have arisen between displaced Murle and the Central Equatoria State Government. It has accused Murle youth of being responsible for a rise in criminality and child abduction.

File photo: Displaced people in Pibor, Jonglei State, January 2012 (OCHA/Cecilia Attefors)