Awell: More than one million refugees have fled South Sudan's ongoing civil war, overwhelming aid agencies and creating one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.
The United Nations said on Friday that South Sudan joins Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia as countries that have produced over one million refugees.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, but civil war erupted two years later and tens of thousands have been killed. New fighting in July in the capital, Juba, created a surge of more than 185,000 refugees. Most people fleeing are women and children.
Neighbouring Uganda hosts the highest number of refugees, and 20,000 have arrived in the past week due to clashes in southern South Sudan. Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic also have received tens of thousands of people fleeing. The UN praised the countries, some of the world's poorest, for allowing refugees to enter.
"Many refugees arrive exhausted after days walking in the bush and going without food or water," said Leo Dobbs, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency. "Many women and girls said they were sexually assaulted during their flight."
Another 1.6 million people are displaced inside South Sudan.
The fighting that erupted in July between supporters of President Salva Kiir and then-Vice President Riek Machar "has shattered hopes for a real breakthrough and triggered new waves of displacement and suffering," Dobbs said.
A peace deal reached a year ago under international pressure continues to be violated. Machar fled the country during the July chaos.
South Sudan's government has been threatened by the U.N. Security Council with an arms embargo if it does not accept a plan to deploy an additional 4,000 peacekeepers from regional countries with the aim of protecting civilians. The government has called the plan a violation of its sovereignty.
