About 350 people who were recently displaced from various villages of Mundri West County in Western Equatoria State need urgent humanitarian assistance, local officials have said.
On 12 June, the communities of Gulu and Mbara Bomas in Mundri West County deserted their areas and migrated to town due to rampant cases of insecurity and lack of basic services.
James Friday, the Coordinator of the Relief Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) in Mundri West County confirmed to Radio Tamazuj over the weekend that they have received more than 40 households, who are now sheltering in the open.
“A few days back, communities were staying in Camp 22 in Mbara and they were displaced to Mundri town. The reason why they moved away from the village was that they used to be disturbed by unknown gunmen and they lack basic services that is why they decided to move to town. There are 45 households, 350 individuals,” Friday said.
He added that the IDPs are in dire need of assistance and appealed to the humanitarian organizations to intervene.
“What we did was we reported to the NGOs on the ground, which is the role of RRC, and we are trying to observe the capacity of the organizations on the ground. If they are not able to respond, then we will send the report to the Head Office in Yambio so that they can report to the UN and other concerned organizations to intervene. Based on our assessment, what those people need are shelter, food, health, and water,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Mundri West County Commissioner, Zelipha Dawa, said the people have relocated due to insecurity and lack of basic services and blamed the delayed graduation of unified police forces for the prevalent insecurity.
“It is correct information. Those people moved because they were being disturbed by cattle keepers. If there is no security, they will stay and will not move to town. I am three months in my office and I cannot do anything because I have been arranging this thing with the organized forces. The police have not graduated from the training and this is the major problem for us,” Dawa said. “When I heard the information, I gave a directive to my RRC coordinator to mobilize the organizations so that those people can get support.”
For his part, Stephen Joshua John, one of the displaced people from Camp 22 in Mbara, said they were left in the bush without services and protection and that is why they decided to leave the area for their safety.
"We are the ones who came from Camp 22 because there were a lot of challenges, there were no health services, water, schools, and our security there was not good. That is why we are here in Mundri. We cultivated a lot last year but heavy rainfall destroyed our crops, so we need help from our government in terms of food and other basic services," said John.
Another IDP identified as Salwa, said, “We came from Camp 22, where we are suffering from crime and water is far, no schools or even a church. That is why we are here but here we have no food and shelter so let the government help us."