About 27,500 Sudanese refugees were forced to leave Yida refugee camp in South Sudan's Unity State due to rampant insecurity and shortages of food, according to a United Nations agency.

The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its weekly bulletin that about 14,434 Nuba refugees from Yida camp in Unity State returned to South Kordofan State in August.

This has raised the total number of recent returnees from South Sudan to South Kordofan to more than 27,500 people, according figures provided by the Famine Early Warning System on its website.

The report pointed out that the main factors driving the return of the Sudanese refugees are insecurity in South Sudan, a lack of food, and an unwillingness to relocate to Pamir camp in Unity State.

The UN humanitarian office noted that the returnees have arrived in areas controlled by the government and the SPLM-North rebels in western, central, and eastern parts of the Nuba Mountains.

It added that most of the refugees returned to rebel-held areas, while there are some limited returns reported in government-controlled areas.