Rebel groups murder South Sudan aid workers

South-Sudan-militias.jpg

South Sudan militias

from RAJI BASHIR in Khartoum, Sudan
KHARTOUM, (CAJ News) ARMED groups have killed seven aid workers in South Sudan this year.

The death toll is a result of the murder of two workers of a non-governmental organisation in the eastern state on Jonglei recently.

They were killed together with four civilians in the Pajut town centre.

The aid workers were providing healthcare and nutrition services to community members, mostly for women and children, when an unknown armed group attacked the area.

This fatal incident brings the number of humanitarians killed since 2013 to 122.

Most of them have been South Sudanese nationals.

Dr Ag Ayoya, the humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan, has condemned the killings and denounced the worsening levels of armed violence in the world’s newest country.

Last week, the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) expressed concern regarding the increased sub-national violence between armed groups in South Sudan in recent months.

Hundreds of people have been killed and at least 60 000 other people displaced are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Jonglei is a hotspot

The escalation of violence is disrupting the ongoing peace efforts by political rivals.

It also disrupts the safe delivery of humanitarian aid.

South Sudan, a country of 11 million people, plunged into a civil war in 2013, two years after independence.

A unity government and a UN peacekeeping mission have struggled to bring stability to a nation torn by ethnic tensions.

– CAJ News

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