More than 5,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) camped in Jur River County’s Tharkueng Payam in Western Bahr el Ghazal State have appealed to the government and humanitarian agencies to come to their aid and provide food, medicine, clean drinking water, and plastic sheets.
The IDPs fled from Achong Chong Village of Wan-Bai Payam following the recent violence between the Apuk Giir and Wan-Bai communities.
Several of the displaced persons told Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday that their situation is very dire.
“I am called Adhel Atum, and I moved from the Geeric area because I was forced out by violence to the riverside,” a female IDP said. “All my houses are burned down to ash; that is the reason I came here.”
Another IDP who identified herself only as Awut said she managed to flee with her child from Manyang Payam.
“I ran with only my child, and we are now surviving on wild leaves,” she lamented. “We do not have food or sleeping items, and I appeal to humanitarian agencies to imminently intervene.”
For his part, Lino Dhel, a Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) employee in Wan-Bai Payam, said IDPs started fleeing their homes on 14 June when violence erupted.
“These people have been accommodated here in Tharkueng Payam by the executive chief and the payam administrator without help or any assistance despite our report to the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission,” he said.
When contacted, Jur River County Commissioner Santino Manut Akec said he had forwarded the displaced persons’ request for assistance to Western Bahr el Ghazal State Governor Sharif Daniel Sharif for immediate consideration.
“I forwarded their request to the governor and his deputy governor and Warrap State authorities to come and address the matter,” he said.
and then