Children, Women Most Victims Of Jonglei Conflicts

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Women and children are the most affected persons of the Jonglei ethnic conflicts that sparked off last month with yet further attacks on going, an official statement from the Medicines Sans Frontieres, (MSF) has reported.

“We are very concerned that the majority of the wounded people in this latest wave of violence in Jonglei are women and children,” said the MSF Head of Mission for South Sudan, Jose Hulsenbek.

She revealed that, in the latest attacks in Uror County where MSF referred 13 patients to its clinic, five were women and two men while the remaining 6 patients were children under the age of five, with bruises or gunshot wounds.

“These 13 patients have survived the night, but some of the children are still in critical conditions with severe trauma to the heads,” Hulsenbek stated in the statement. 
 
Meanwhile, MSF has also condemned the targeting of medical facilities by any armed group, it reiterated its continued support to bring humanitarian aid and medical assistance to the population of Jonglei State.

On the other hand, Jonglei Twich East County Member of Parliament in the South Sudan National Assembly, (SSNA) Mr. Deng Dau Deng exclusively told Gurtong that, the humanitarian situation in the State is still daring and urged for further interventions.

“The triangles of Pibor, Uror, Akobo, Twich East and Bor Counties is in real humanitarian crisis,” Deng said while warning that, tension is still high and there is little presence of the National Government forces and the UN peace keepers in many Counties especially Uror, Twich and Akobo.

“There is still a lot of tension because of the expected movement of Murle raiders in the areas of Twich East, Bor, Akobo and Uror. In Bor County there are no people in most payams. The Payams are all deserted because of the insecurity,” Deng added.

Meanwhile, according to the UN weekly humanitarian bulletin released yesterday, the security situation in Jonglei remained fluid as inter-communal attacks between the Murle and Lou Nuer continued to be reported in Akobo and Uror Counties.

On 10th January 2012, unconfirmed reports indicated that Diro and Padoi payams in Walgak were attacked, according to UN Security intelligence. Between 10th and 11th January, a government official from Akobo County reported that Pahor payam had been burned down in yet another attack. On 11th January 2012, in Uror County the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) reported an attack in the Yuai area killing an unverified number of people and causing people to flee the area.

“While aid organizations begin to deliver life-saving relief itesm to the people in need, lack of aircrafts to transport food, medication and the low number of partners on the ground continue to  strain the response operation to the large number of people scattered over a vast, remote area,” the bulleting said.

The bulletin also states that, heavy-lift air capacity remains the most urgent need of the humanitarian community in its delivery of lifesaving assistance to those affected by the violence.

The remoteness of the hardest hit areas means that many of them are only accesed by air, making the delivery of assistance difficult and expensive, it says.