Thousands of ethnic Nuers have fled from central into eastern Upper Nile State into various areas including Beneshowa camp near the border with the Longochuk County.

Food is lacking among these newly displaced people now staying at Beneshowa, which is located in southern Maban County about 20 kilometers from the boundary with Longochuk County.

Omda Boutros, a traditional leader of Beneshowa, said the people were arriving from far away in poor condition: “There’s no food, water, or medicine, and no organization came to help us with anything, neither food nor drinking water.”

He explained, “Some of these people ran from Paloich, and others from Guel Guk and others from Hadar, and they came until they got to Beneshowa.”

“We need food,” said one of the refugees. “If there’s no food we’ll go elsewhere, toward Nasser. We came from Paloich. We’ve been here nearly 20 days. There’s no fish or meat here.”

According to the omda, the number of Nuer people at Beneshowa could be around 8000, and he said there were no problems between the Nuer and the host community of Maban. 

Photo: Children of displaced at Beneshowa, Maban County, 26 February 2014 (Radio Tamazuj)

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