Sudanese traders in South Sudan’s Pibor town have lost their shops and goods as a result of looting and destruction after clashes between rival groups in the area last week, one trader said in an interview with Radio Tamazuj.

Ahmed Yagub, a Sudanese trader sheltering at the UN base in Pibor, told Radio Tamazuj that about 32 shops belonging to Sudanese traders were all burned down during fighting between the SSDM-Cobra Faction and SPLA forces.

"We were in the UN base, we didn’t not know that the market is finished and everything is looted. All these 32 shops belong to Sudanese traders," he explained. "There is nothing left with us except the clothes we are wearing now, there is nothing else," 

Yagub said the number of Sudanese traders could reach up to 350 to 400 in Pibor area, noting they currently plan to travel to Juba, but all roads are still closed.

He pointed out that SPLA forces were controlling the area after the clashes with SSDM-Cobra faction. He called on the government to transport them to Juba as soon as possible.

Another trader called Ahmed Ibrahim said, “We are now inside the UNMISS, we don’t have food and water as traders, neither the government cares about us nor the UNMISS, what we want is to get out from this area, we want to go to Juba or elsewhere."

Last Friday, NGO Doctors Without Borders reported that it was treating dozens of people wounded in fighting in Pibor, as hundreds of civilians fled the violence or seek shelter at a UN base in the town.