JUBA: Detoh Rie has spent the last five days hiding in a swamp with his children -- one among thousands of South Sudanese forced to flee their homes as renewed violence threatens to return the fragile nation to war.
When clashes erupted on Friday between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his rival, Vice-President Riek Machar, in the country's oil-rich Unity state, Rie wasted no time in grabbing his children and running for their lives.
"The soldiers attacked our villages and burnt many of our houses. They took our cows and goats and they killed people," the 51-year-old said by telephone from Leer county.
He says he doesn't know if the rest of his family made it out alive as the attackers reduced his village Waay to smouldering ruins.
South Sudan has been here before.
Barely two years into its hard-won independence, the country found itself in the grip of a civil war between Kiir and Machar that left nearly 400,000 people dead before the two men signed a peace deal in 2018.
But the peace process has been hamstrung by political bickering and when fighting spiralled in recent weeks, civilians have once again been forced to pay the heaviest price.
Although Kiir and Machar announced an end to the latest hostilities earlier this month and vowed to make swift progress on implementing key provisions of the 2018 pact, Unity state was wracked by fresh violence less than a week later.
According to Stephen Taker, commissioner of Leer county, the authorities registered 13,930 displaced people on Monday, with many reluctant to head home despite calm reportedly returning to the area.
"Everything that they had was all looted," he said, describing the situation as "completely bad".
Officials say the number of those displaced could be much higher, with many either unable to access help or too afraid to leave the marshes where they have sought refuge.
'DYING OF HUNGER'
Like Rie, Kou Tek is also sheltering in Leer's swamplands, walking for four hours with his family to safety.
The father-of-three described horrific abuses by the armed men who laid waste to his village, saying that women and girls were raped.
The attackers also shot dead villagers, he said, adding that he personally saw eight corpses.
Although the 39-year-old counts himself fortunate to have escaped the killing spree, he said many displaced people were struggling to survive, with no food or clean water.
"Children are taking water from the rivers which are not safe. So a lot of children are having diarrhoea and they are not getting any medication," he said.
Many children and elderly people "are also dying because of hunger", he added.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has sounded the alarm, warning of "a dire humanitarian situation" in Leer county.
"Things got worse over the past weekend with numerous villages south of Leer town being looted and burnt. Critically, Adok port, the second-largest economic hub in (Unity) state, is reported to be destroyed," UNMISS said in a statement on Monday. - AFP
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