KAMPALA: Some 1.5 million refugees have fled fighting and famine in South Sudan to neighboring countries, half of them to Uganda, and thousands more are leaving daily, the UN refugee agency said on Thursday.
Political rivalry between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar ignited a civil war in 2013 that has often followed ethnic lines.
The two signed a shaky peace deal in 2015, but fighting has continued and Machar fled in July after days of clashes between soldiers loyal to him and Kiir’s forces in the capital Juba. He is now in South Africa.
Charlie Yaxley, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Uganda, said the agency estimated the total number of South Sudanese who have gone to neighboring countries at 1.5 million, half in Uganda.
In December there were an estimated 600,000 South Sudanese who had arrived in Uganda. Yaxley said there were thousands of new arrivals every day. The UNHCR had planned for 300,000 this year.
“We have already in the first two months of this year received 120,00 new arrivals. If this rate of inflow continues actually that figure for 2017 will be far higher,” Yaxley said.
Refugees arriving in Uganda often say they are fleeing from ethnic violence.
“I was in Invepi ... and almost every refugee I spoke to had either seen a friend or family member killed in front of their eyes,” Yaxley said, referring to the latest refugee settlement set up in Uganda.
Violence has prevented many farmers from harvesting crops and the scarcity of food has been compounded by hyperinflation, triggering famine in parts of South Sudan.
The UNHCR says the refugee crisis is the world’s third largest after Syria’s and Afghanistan’s.
Hit by fighting and famine, 1.5m flee South Sudan
Hit by fighting and famine, 1.5m flee South Sudan
EU warns against Trump’s tariffs threat over Greenland
- “Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,” they wrote
- “Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty“
BRUSSELS: European Union leaders on Saturday warned against US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on European countries until he has achieved his purchase of Greenland.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, issued the joint statement hours after Trump threatened multiple European nations with tariffs of up to 25 percent.
“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,” they wrote in a post on social media.
“Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” they added.
The statement came days after Danish and Greenlandic officials held talks in Washington over Trump’s bid to acquire the territory, without reaching agreement.
“The EU stands in full solidarity with Denmark and the people of Greenland,” said the EU statement.
“Dialogue remains essential, and we are committed to building on the process begun already last week between the Kingdom of Denmark and the US.”
