More South Sudanese Seek Shelter at U.N. Bases

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/world/africa/more-south-sudanese-seek-shelter-at-un-bases.html

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In a sign of worsening problems in South Sudan, convulsed by civil war and intensifying hunger for more than a year, the United Nations said Tuesday that an increasing number of displaced South Sudanese are seeking shelter and protection at its peacekeeping outposts.

Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for the United Nations, said at a daily briefing at its headquarters in New York that 4,500 South Sudanese had recently entered a peacekeeping base in Upper Nile State, bringing the total number who have sought sanctuary at the base to 26,000 and pushing the total in the entire country who are living within the confines of United Nations facilities to 115,000.

While that total is dwarfed by the estimated 1.5 million displaced people elsewhere in South Sudan (and 500,000 who have fled to neighboring countries), it is still regarded as a barometer of the country’s precarious stability. Mr. Dujarric said it was the largest number of South Sudanese housed at United Nations facilities in South Sudan since the civil war erupted.

Political feuding between factions loyal to President Salva Kiir and others who swear allegiance to his former vice president, Riek Machar, is at the root of the conflict in South Sudan, the world’s youngest country. Repeated efforts to achieve a peaceful solution have collapsed; the latest was last month at talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Each side blamed the other for the failure.

The disruptions to agriculture and food production caused by the conflict have placed more than seven million people at risk of hunger and disease, rivaling in scope the humanitarian emergencies caused by the conflicts in Syria and Iraq. The number of South Sudanese regarded as “food-insecure” — not far from famine status — is more than two million.

Last week, Toby Lanzer, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, expressed alarm that many South Sudanese farmers and herders might be too afraid to work.

“It is vital that the people in South Sudan are able to move freely to access their land, plant crops, tend to their livestock and trade without fear of violence,” he said. “Freedom of movement is crucial to prevent a further deterioration in the food security situation caused by the ongoing conflict.”

But the United Nations so far has been able to achieve little to encourage political reconciliation. After the collapse of peace talks in March, the Security Council issued a statement of “strong condemnation” over the recurrent failures of both sides and warned of possible sanctions to pressure them into forming a transitional government. Still, the Council stopped short of prohibiting the warring factions from buying more weapons.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in the country, known as the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan, is one of its largest deployments, with a current strength of about 12,500. Its main purposes include protecting civilians, particularly women and children, and creating conditions for the delivery of aid.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a referendum in which an overwhelming majority voted to secede. Formed out of the 10 southernmost states of Sudan, it is a vast mix of grassland and tropical rain forests. Simmering tensions between supporters of President Kiir, of the Dinka ethnic group, and Mr. Machar, of the Nuer ethnic group, exploded into violence in the capital city of Juba in December 2013 and quickly spread elsewhere.