Thousands flee Sudan conflict, arrive in neighbouring South Sudan

Over 10,000 people fleeing the conflict in Sudan have arrived in neighbouring South Sudan since fighting broke out in mid-April between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). 

The returnees and refugees have reportedly arrived in the border town of Renk in Upper Nile state and Aweil North County in Northern Bahr El Ghazal state, officials said on Tuesday.

Kak Padiet, a local official in Renk, described the influx as alarming.

"Three-quarters of the arrivals are South Sudanese, while the rest are Sudanese, Eritreans, Kenyans, Ugandans and Somalis," Padiet told Anadolu.

He urged the state and national governments to intervene to address the humanitarian conditions of the displaced.

"On Sunday alone, we received 3,000 people, and on Saturday about 6,500 people came and many people are still on the way. Now they’ve stopped coming due to transport (issues)."

"On Sunday, I was at the border, and we also received 15 Kenyans, 15 Somalis, 15 Ugandans and 65 Eritreans. This is the number that came yesterday from Sudan. We have taken them to the Paloch oil field so that they are transported to Juba."

Padiet urged non-governmental organizations to support these people as no one is helping them with water, food and shelter.

He said their numbers are big and people at the border cannot register them and provide accurate figures.

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Huge influx

Kuot Dau, the press secretary at the office of the county commissioner of Aweil North County, said they have received a huge influx of returnees and refugees and there is no cellular network where they are settled and he does not know their exact number.

He said the county authorities will travel to those border areas to find out the exact number of people who have entered.

Some media outlets reported that around 5,000 people had reached Aweil North County but Dau said the number is huge and now the number would be bigger than that.

One of the returnees said he walked for 10 hours from where he was staying in Khartoum to get transport to the border town of Renk.

"It wasn’t easy for me to reach South Sudan. I really suffered. But thank God, one of my friends assisted me. He paid for my transport and I managed to reach South Sudan safely."

He said those who could not manage to walk that distance are stuck and unsure when they will be able to reach South Sudan.

He said many people spent days travelling to the border and people are really suffering there.

Acting Foreign Minister Deng Dau Deng Malek said there are more than 1 million South Sudanese living in Sudan.

"There is an urgent need now as we speak to support the government of Upper Nile State, the county of Renk. They need fuel. They need cars, people in Khartoum and other places, and they need money."

"As we evaluate the risk and safety, there should be no problem for our people in coming by that road, since we are not part of that fighting and we are talking to all parties to return to the negotiation table," Malek said.

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