Returnees and internally displaced persons in Kupera County in South Sudan’s Yei River State are dire need of humanitarian assistance, the commissioner said.
Those in need, Emmanuel Khamis Richard said, include over 20,000 internally displaced persons who have just returned to their villages.
The affected, mostly women, children and the elderly need shelter, food, medicines, clean water, farm tools and nonfood items, he told Radio Tamazuj Monday.
“There are people who have returned voluntarily to settle in their original areas and payams of Kupera County. For the last two weeks, the RRC [Relief and Rehabilitation Commission] has registered 114 returnees and the major challenge here is the lack of shelter, food, medicines and agricultural implements so that they produce their own sustainable food,” he explained.
The commissioner said none of the humanitarian organizations operating in the state has intervened to help the needy population.
He, however, said security situation in the county is stable following the good working relationship the warring factions built to ensure there is smooth implementation of the revitalized peace agreement.
“The general security situation in Kupera County is calm and stable in all the payams. As government and the opposition SPLA-IO [Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In-Opposition] are working hand in hand to ensure full implementation of the revitalized peace agreement and we are working very well as parties to the agreement,” said Khamis.
Kupera is one of the counties in Yei River State badly affected by the 2016 conflict.