Arkangelo Anyar Anyar, mayor of the capital of Western Bahr al Ghazal, said that more than 500 people arrived in the city having fled conflict in Unity State to the northeast.
Ibrahim Braima Ali Ahmed, secretary of the Darfur People’s Association in Wau, specified that the number of displaced from Bentiu is 726, most of whom are from Darfur as well as 80 Ethiopians and some South Sudanese.
The city has provided a school premises for accommodation of the newly displaced people. More refugees continue to arrive including five vehicles carrying people from Bentiu that came today.
Many traders who were living in the town of Bentiu were natives of nearby countries including Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Somalia. After the outbreak of conflict many sought refuge temporarily in UN bases in Bentiu and its twin city Rubkona.
The Darfur association in Wau is providing food for the displaced while the government is providing accommodation, security and medical care at the Wau Teaching Hospital and Military Hospital.
Photo: Aerial view of Wau, South Sudan, in 2007 (UNEP)