http://presstv.com/detail/2014/07/12/370935/number-of-s-sudan-refugees-rising/
Saturday Jul 12, 201404:48 PM GMT
UNHCR warns of rising number of S Sudan refugees
*The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
has warned of the rising number of people forced to flee from their homes
in South Sudan, with more than 700,000 refugees expected by the end of the
year.*
Speaking at a news briefing on Friday, UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming
raised the alarm over the deepening humanitarian crisis in South Sudan as
clashes rage on between pro-government forces and rebels in the country.
"The ongoing conflict ... inside the world's youngest nation is fuelling a
refugee exodus into Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda at a much higher rate
than initially anticipated," Fleming said, adding, "The figure of 715,000
more than doubles the number of refugees envisaged" when the UN's refugee
agency began a funding appeal for the South Sudanese refugees four months
ago.
Meanwhile, the agency revised its funding appeal to USD 658 million from
the original USD 371 million requested in March.
It also noted that Ethiopia is witnessing the biggest surge in refugee
arrivals, with over 1,000 refugees a day crossing into the town of Burubiey.
The development came on the same day that the charity Save the Children
warned that over 2,600 people have been infected with and 60 killed by
cholera in South Sudan since its first cases were detected in the capital
Juba in May.
South Sudan plunged into violence in December 2013, when fighting erupted
between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and defectors led by his
sacked deputy, Riek Machar.
The conflict soon turned into an all-out war between the army and
defectors, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension that pitted the
president's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.
Thousands of people have so far been killed in the war. The fighting has
reduced significantly since the latest ceasefire deal was signed on June
10, but the talks being held in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa between the
two warring sides have stalled.
Received on Sat Jul 12 2014 - 12:47:46 EDT