By William Madouk
Escalating fight in the Sudanese capital Khartoum and other towns has forced over three thousand people, mostly children, women and elderly persons, to flee to South Sudan in the past four days.
The sudden eruption of military confrontations between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the well-armed Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group on 15 April triggered a humanitarian crisis and the war has killed about 427 people, UN agencies said.
Speaking to No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper yesterday, the commissioner of Renk County, Upper Nile state Mr. Kak Padiet confirmed the arrival of the refugees from Sudan that started in the last four days.
“First of all, we have received 2,450 South Sudanese nationals, 288 are households who have families here in Renk and 120 are foreigners – they include Ethiopians, Kenyans, Somalis and Eritreans,” Padiet confirmed.
“The total number is over 2,858 people, plus 250 people who are from Wau and Aweil states, those are the refugees we received and today another population reached the border and we will go there and give you more update soon,” he added.
According to the County authority, the figure is put at 3,108 refugees so far and its due to increase because many people are still crossing to South Sudan from Sudan.
Mr. Padiet said the condition of refugees is very dire because they come empty-handed without their belongings and clothes.
“They are really in a very dire humanitarian situation, and we call those who are in Juba to provide us with fuel so that we can transport them from border areas to where they can settle in county,” he appealed.
Renk commissioner said there is no any intervention from humanitarian agencies at the current moment, adding that it’s only local residents and well-wishers who at least offered a little assistance.
He lamented of assistance delay from aid agencies, adding that refugees’ situation needs swift intervention now.
“I told them that these refugees who entered the country are very tired and need medicines, vehicles to transport them from border. In which they accepted but said they sent a letter to Juba and are awaiting the response [till Wednesday],” he bemoaned.
However, the state Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC), said they don’t have the accurate and verified data of the number of refugees who have entered the Upper Nile state.
Press Secretary in the office of the governor, William Ronyo affirmed that governor, James Odhok held an emergency meeting with all NGOs to mobilize resources and develop plan on how to response to the situation.
He added that the governor has formed a ‘humanitarian crisis committee’ to be led by his deputy to coordinate with aid agencies for swift response to influx of refugees.
“Some of NGOs by tomorrow they will arrive and will response in terms of health needs, food assistances and non-food items,” Ronyo said.
“The county authority is working very hard, they have received the refugees but no major response has been done yet but as I told you earlier the governor himself will be going there tomorrow [today] to see for himself,” he added.
Fighter jets have bombed the capital Khartoum, the main airport at the center of fighting and artillery barrages have made movement unsafe in and out of one of Africa’s largest cities.
Despite sustained pressure from countries concerned by the conflict’s wider repercussions as well as the safety of their nationals, the two sides have not abided by a temporary truce.
But, fighting calmed enough over the weekend for the United States to get embassy staff out by military helicopter, triggering a rush of evacuations by other countries.
Sudan hosts 800,000 South Sudanese refugees who have fled long-running conflicts there. South Sudan gained its independence from its northern neighbor in 2011.
More than 2 million people are also internally displaced within South Sudan, where civil war from 2013 to 2018 resulted in an estimated 400,000 deaths.