Unprecedented Displacement Hits Western Equatoria
Local officials in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria State confirm an unexpected influx of more than 52,000 internally displaced persons after fresh clashes turned Tambura into a battle zone.
Relief and Rehabilitation Commission coordinator Martin Siani says registrations began on 22 June and still climb, with 2,812 households already logged inside Ezo County’s borders.
Basic Needs Under Severe Pressure
Most arrivals are women and children caught in the rainy season, arriving with little more than the clothes they wear.
Siani warns broken boreholes, scarce medicine, and a shortage of shelter have pushed malnutrition and water-borne diseases upward.
Luiz Agiba, elected to speak for the displaced, paints a stark picture: families sleep under trees, children cry from hunger, and blankets are a luxury.
Community Resources Stretched to the Limit
Ezo County Commissioner Colonel Abel Sudan reports newcomers settling in Central, Bariguna and Bagidi payams, where existing services now strain to breaking point.
He notes rising malaria and typhoid cases linked to unsafe water, with the elderly, pregnant women and young children most at risk.
Sudan maintains that Ezo itself remains calm, yet he cautions that the humanitarian gap must close quickly or the fragile stability could falter.
Calls for Swift Humanitarian Support
Local leaders urge government ministries, UN agencies and NGOs to deliver food, medical kits, and tools so families can plant before the next farming cycle.
An unidentified man who fled firefights near the UNMISS base in Tambura captures the mood: ‘We left everything to survive; support must follow us here’.