By Jenifer James
More than 7,000 people, including women, children, and the elderly, have been displaced from Gulumbi and Panyume payam in Morobo County following renewed fighting between government and opposition forces.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, the commissioner of Morobo County, Data Charles, said the displaced individuals are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance after being forced to flee violent clashes between the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO).
‘’The humanitarian agency to help these people who are in need, especially with food and shelter, based on statistics from yesterday, the population of displaced people was 7,188.’’ Data said.
According to Charles, the security situation has since stabilised; the events of the past three days have deeply impacted local communities.
‘’The situation currently in Morobo County is normal like before, although these things happened between SPLM IO and the SSPDF three days ago in Gulumbi payam, which is 2km from the centre, and currently there are no gunshots around the county headquarters, and the security has come back to normal,’’ Data said.
Meanwhile, in a statement to the media, the civil society activist Edmund Yakani condemned the violence and expressed concern for displaced returnees who had recently come back from refugee camps in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to rebuild their lives.
‘’As an activist, we strongly condemn the act of using violence for resolving political differences in the Panyume area and following similar incidents in some parts of the country in Upper or Western Equatoria state or elsewhere within the country,’’ Yakani said.
The conflict in Morobo County started over the weekend between SSPDF and SPLA-IO in Gulumbi Payam