Abyei displaced persons in urgent need of food, shelter 

More than 8,000 displaced people during the recent fighting between Twic and Dinka Ngok of Abyei are in dire need of food and shelter. According to Dut Majokdit, the head of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state.

 “We also have the issue of Aneet and this crisis has also displaced most of the people and we have almost 6,000 IDPs in Aweil East and we also have 2,700 households in Rumanguoth, Aweil Centre,” Majokdit told the Juba Echo in an interview on Monday.

In February, fighting erupted at Aneet market in Abyei Administrative Area over land disputed.

Majokdit said the situation of the IDPs has worsened after the suspension of food aid by the World Food Programme (WFP) this year.

“They are sleeping under trees and some who were sleeping in the church, the church starting leaking and most of the people are suffering and hungry because there is nothing to be eaten,” Majokdit said.

 “We have almost 59 breastfeeding mothers and we have almost 17 pregnant women and most of them are elderly people. Some women and their husbands were killed during the conflict,” he added.

Majokdit urged humanitarian agencies to provide emergency relief.

 “We urge humanitarian actors and agencies to support our people by providing shelters to those affected by floods in Aweil East and Aweil South,” he disclosed. 

“We request other projects on resilience to be introduced instead of depending all the time on general food distribution. We need other projects that can sustain the lives of our people,” Majokdit said.

President Salva Kiir in the aftermath of the violence formed an ad-hoc committee to investigate the killings in Aneet market.

On May 5th, leaders from the two communities reached an agreement to cease hostilities but later on fighting erupted again with both sides trading blame.

At least four people including a state minister believed to have incited the renewed fighting have been arrested.