Up to 20,000 civilians fled the disputed border region of Abyei after North Sudan seized its main town at the weekend
NAIROBI (AlertNet) - The young and the elderly are among an estimated 20,000 civilians who are "running for their lives" to escape fighting in Sudan's disputed border region of Abyei, a senior U.N. official said on Tuesday.
North Sudan's army seized the main town in Abyei at the weekend in an operation that resulted in looting and burning by armed groups. Having fled clashes in Abyei town, many of the displaced headed to Agok, across the border in the south, but fled again due to fears of fresh violence.
"We are pretty worried about the evacuation out of Agok. There are older people and younger people who are really going to struggle," the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, Lise Grande, told AlertNet.
"They are running for their lives."
Aid workers said people were leaving the town of Agok, 40 km south of Abyei, and were heading towards Turalei and Wunrok in South Sudan's Warrap State.
South Sudan said the seizure of Abyei was a ploy by Khartoum to provoke war and derail secession by the oil-rich south, due in July. Southerners voted to split from the north in a January referendum agreed under a 2005 peace deal.
North Sudan says it sent in troops to clear out southern soldiers who it said had broken agreements by entering the area.
The United Nations said a humanitarian team of experts and aid workers tried to carry out an assessment in Agok on Monday but was forced to retreat to a U.N. peacekeepers' base when gunfire erupted in a nearby market.
Gustavo Fernandes, programme manager for Abyei with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), said tension was very high on Monday night in Agok.
"We witnessed a massive movement of population out of Agok towards the south," he told AlertNet by phone from Geneva. "Most of the population vacated the town by night ... So we have now the two (displaced) populations, both from Abyei and from Agok."
MSF evacuated its staff from Agok to Turalei, two hours' drive south. The medical charity is now trying to help civilians making the same journey on foot.
"We basically are on the road between Turalei and Agok, looking for those patients who present the most severe signs of deterioration," said Fernandes.
"Our team witnessed, when they were still in Agok, severe signs of dehydration among children that were part of the population that was on the move."
Dehydration can kill if it is not managed properly.
CIVILIANS LEFT BEHIND
Grande said she planned to visit Turalei and Wunrok on Wednesday to assess the needs of the displaced.
“The numbers that are coming out of Agok may be more than we have supplies for," Grande said.
Six months of humanitarian supplies were prepositioned in Turalei, one of 100 such hubs that were set up ahead of January's referendum on independence for South Sudan.
The violence that was feared did not materialise and the vote passed off peacefully.
The influx of displaced people from Abyei and Agok will put immense pressure on Warrap State, which is already struggling to provide for 16,200 returnees who have moved back home from the north ahead of South Sudan's independence on July 9.
MSF teams are keen to return to Agok, where they run the main hospital, as well as treat malnourished children.
"Our efforts today are on the road, trying to come back to Agok and see if there are civilians that are left behind," said Fernandes. "That's a serious concern."
Abyei is claimed by both north and south Sudan. A January referendum to decide its future did not go ahead due to disagreements over which groups would be eligible to vote.
Analysts fear north-south fighting over Abyei could reignite a full blown conflict in Africa's largest country, a move that could have a devastating impact on the surrounding region.
Noting that South Sudan was facing its most violent year since 2005, aid agency Oxfam said the U.N. Security Council must ensure the new mandate for the future U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan – which is under discussion – makes protecting civilians its top priority.
“With just six weeks to go until the birth of the world’s newest country, the security situation is on a knife-edge. Protecting civilians from violence will be one of the new state’s biggest and most crucial challenges, and UN peacekeepers have a vital role to play,” Fran Equiza, Oxfam’s regional director, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Oxfam said more than 1,400 people have already been killed in South Sudan this year – a toll that is more than the whole of 2010, while at least 117,000 people have fled their homes.
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