South Sudanese leave Sudan as conflict escalates

(10 May 2023)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4433730
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Canal Pigi County, South Sudan - 3 May 2023
1. Aerial of Canal-Pigi County
HEADLINE: South Sudanese leave Sudan as conflict escalates
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Canal Pigi County, South Sudan - 7 May 2023
2. People in boat on Nile river being transported to medical clinic in Malakal city
3. Wide of river
ANNOTATION: More than 40,000 people crossed the border into South Sudan since Sudan erupted in conflict.
4. Various of villagers carrying sick woman to boat run by International Medical Corps aid group, lifting woman onto boat
ANNOTATION: Some spent weeks fleeing clashes that have killed hundreds and turned urban areas into battlefields.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wunlueth village, Canal Pigi County, South Sudan - 4 May 2023
5. Various of refugees waiting to register for food assistance
ANNOTATION: Most are South Sudanese who fled civil war in their country and now return to areas still without food, water, shelter or access to medical care.
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Couch village, Canal Pigi County, South Sudan - 5 May 2023
6. Various of woman preparing food
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Wunlueth village, Canal Pigi County, South Sudan - 4 May 2023
7. Nyarok Gach searching through clothes in house
8. SOUNDBITE (Nuer) Nyarok Gach, Sudan evacuee: ++STARTS ON SHOT 6++
“I was in Sudan when the war happened. People were running for safety. Me and my children decided to go back home to South Sudan. When we arrived here, things were the same. No food, shelter or clothes.”
9. Wide of shopkeeper at market stall
ANNOTATION: The United Nations says three-quarter of people are in need of humanitarian assistance.
10. Close of produce at the market
11. SOUNDBITE (Nuer) Wawic Gatluak, shopkeeper in Wunlueth village:
“I came from Sudan, and I brought this food. I bought this, but when it is finished, I can’t go back and get more.”
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Malakal city, Upper Nile state, South Sudan - 8 May 2023
12. South Sudanese women and children recently returned from Sudan, sitting on mats
13. Woman fanning her baby while lying on ground
ANNOTATION: The United Nations also warned that 180,000 South Sudanese could return by August and called for urgent assistance.
STORYLINE:
More than 40,000 people - mostly South Sudanese - have crossed the border into South Sudan since Sudan erupted in conflict nearly one month ago, yet many are returning to areas unable to support to them and are still riddled with fighting.
Five years of war and unprecedented floods have pushed South Sudan into a dire situation with more than 75% of the nation's 12 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and nearly three million on the brink of starvation.
Most people are crossing into South Sudan’s northern town of Renk in Upper Nile state where some 6,000 are sheltering in a makeshift transition centre with thousands more scattered throughout the town, according to government statistics.
Some have been flown out of the nearby border town of Paloch in chartered planes funded by generous businessmen from the capital, Juba and nearly 2,000 others have travelled by boat along the Nile to the state capital of Malakal.
But aid workers say many people either don't have the means to get home or don't want to return to their villages because of security concerns.
In Wunlueth village in Canal Pigi County, at least 100 people have returned from Sudan.
Some spent weeks traveling by car, boat and barefoot to reach villages without food, water shelter or access to medical care.
The war is also disrupting supply routes.
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