Over 150,000 South Sudanese now sheltering in UN bases

Some 120,000 South Sudanese are sheltered in UN compounds while United Nations estimates suggest that the number of people in need for 2015 will include an anticipated 1.95 million IDPs and a projected 293,000 refugees.

In Central Equatoria, the location of the outbreak, students and teachers in schools near cholera hotspots have invited UNICEF to make school visits to raise awareness of the main risk factors. “One of the most powerful ways we can respond to this outbreak is by equipping school-children with the information and tools they need to protect themselves and their families”.

An intestinal infection often linked to contaminated drinking water, cholera causes diarrhoea and vomiting, leaving small children especially vulnerable to death from dehydration.

Past year a cholera outbreak killed 167 people out of over 6421 cases after it spread to five states. In UNICEF Child Friendly Spaces, children are being trained and encouraged to raise awareness among their own families and communities – an important measure in South Sudan where 70 per cent of adults can not read or write.

“It’s a race against time to prevent the spread of cholera up the river Nile, especially during the rainy season”.

UNICEF in South Sudan urgently needs US$ 4.6 million to fund an emergency cholera response for six months. Over 10,000 have arrived in the past week alone, according to official figures released by UNMISS.

A United Nations report last week described horrific violence, with witnesses saying the army gang-raped girls and torched them alive in huts.

The first helicopter was shot down in Akoka on Sunday and the second in Kodok early Monday, he said. “In addition, South Sudan continues to receive refugees from neighbouring Sudan – nearly 250,000 people, mostly from Sudan’s Blue Nile and South Kordofan states”, The UNHCR said.

South Sudan’s army said on Monday it had retaken the strategic northeastern town of Malakal from rebels, the latest time the ruined state capital has swapped hands.

South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, has been wrecked by fighting that has killed thousands and forced more than 800,000 to flee their homes since December 2013.

Kiir accused Machar of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings across the country that has split the poverty-stricken, landlocked country along ethnic lines.

“Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says that more than 730,000 South Sudanese are refugees and some 1.5 million have become internally displaced”, he said.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Tuesday, the refugee agency also commended the hospitality shown by the neighbouring countries of Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya and Uganda in receiving and accepting to host the refugees despite rising numbers on daily basis.

“Political efforts so far have failed to bring an end to the conflict, and the outlook for the affected populations remains grim”, UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards told a press briefing in Geneva.