More Than 200 South Sudanese fleeing violence drown in Nile
On Monday, January 13, over 200 people -- among them women and children -- died whilst trying to escape the violence in Malakal, when a Nile ferry sank. The reports we have are of between 200 to 300 people, including women and children. The boat was overloaded,” army spokesman Philip Aguer told the AFP news agency.
He explained that Machar’s forces had been informing the town that Malakal was under indiscriminate attack. Frightened locals ran in different directions, including fleeing across the water.
Aguer describing the incident as ‘disastrous’, saying the rebel Machar’s forces should be held accountable.
Heavy clashes between government forces and rebel troops killed scores of people in South Sudan’s northeastern city of Malakal late last year.
Fighting between government forces and rebels backing former Vice President Riek Machar raged for four days until December 27, when the government declared victory over rebels.
The number of bodies we find daily is increasing.”
Dead bodies are still scattered in the streets of Malakal, locals said. Philip Jippini Oqal, the State’s Minister of Information, said the Red Cross and the government are searching for corpses to bury them. The number of bodies we find daily is increasing and the search is still going on in the south of the city,” he said.
After seizing control of the city, the rebel forces looted all markets and burned several shops, leaving the region without food. Residents are stranded, fearful for their lives and often homeless.
Thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting and fled to the city’s United Nations Mission compound. Others try to leave Malakal, often risking their lives.
Hospital wards were filled with the wounded.”
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a nurse working at Malakal Teaching Hospital described gruelling hospital conditions, with an acute shortage of beds and medicine.
Hospital wards were filled with the wounded. This has forced the hospital’s management to set up tents to treat the wounded,” she told The Niles, adding that three flights carrying medicine arrived from Juba, which helped ease the shortage.
General Manager of the Hospital John Scholl said: The situation remains critical for the large number of surgeries taking place at the hospital.”
The thousands of civilians who fled from the violence and sought refuge at the United Nations compound in Malakal face shortages of water and food. Amid the threat of fresh violence in the region, most are afraid to return home.
Some say that Riek’s forces will return to hit the city of Malakal again. Therefore, I do not want to risk my life again, I have learned from what happened,” said Mary Simon, mother of three, who is sheltering with her family at the United Nations compound.
The rumours threaten the stability of citizens.”
Most of the citizens at the UN compound believe that the return of Machar forces is a possibility and are sceptical of the government’s assurances that they are in full control of the city.
Speculation that Machar forces may return triggered mass migration to the city of Renk and neighbouring villages. The rumours threaten the stability of citizens,” said Philip Jippini Oqal, the State’s Minister of Information.
Omar Isaac, a trader at Malakal market, lost everything he owns as his shop was looted and completely burned. But Isaac stressed he would never leave Malakal and clings to the belief that the market will flourish again when the security situation improves. I am not afraid to die. I came to the South during wartime and worked as a trader for years,” he stressed.
A conflict in Juba in December touched off a month of violence, with clashes spreading fast across the young nation. The death toll is estimated in thousands and has sparked fear of a return to the civil war which dominated southern Sudan for decades until a peace deal with Sudan in 2005.
Analysts are left doubtful about the chances of talks between delegations of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and the rebels, underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The South Sudanese face an unknown future,” said political activist Flip Mang. The ongoing negotiations between the two parties will be historic if they agreed to stop the bloodshed.”
