The humanitarian situation has deteriorated in parts of rebel-controlled Jonglei State. In the remote village of Kuernyang in Fangak County, many more people recently arrived after fighting in areas of neighboring Upper Nile and Unity states.
About 20,000 people fled to the area as a result of recent fighting including the incident inside Malakal when different government units battled each other.
The village of Kuernyang has only one water point and has not enough houses or tents for people to sleep, so many are staying under the shade of trees. SPLM-IO, the rebel group that controls the area, has requested the UN to help open another borehole to improve access to water.
Some of the children who recently arrived to the area are severely malnourished. UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, dispatched a joint mission to the area with WFP on Saturday as part of its ‘rapid response missions’ program. The village is a four hour helicopter journey from Juba.
“Many of these children have travelled very far to seek life-saving assistance. Coping mechanisms have been stretched to the very limit,” said Yoka Brandt, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director. She met with mothers, some of whom had walked for over nine hours with their children.
Meanwhile, aid workers have registered a high number of severely malnourished children in the area and the World Food Programme (WFP) has begun air-dropping food.
Nilma Tylor, chief of nutrition for UNICEF said, “We are working closely with WFP to look at the children that are severely malnourished because this is a common problem in South Sudan even before the conflict. We believe because of the conflict, the economic situation is getting worse.”
She added that the major cases in the area are malaria and diarrhea, which is sometimes caused by lack of adequate hygiene.