150 People Wounded, More Feared Dead At least 150 people have been wounded during the fresh clashes between rebels and government forces on Tuesday this week in Malakal, agency said. 23 February 2014 Displaced and wounded South Sudanese people at a hospital in Upper Nile state, January 2014. [File | AFP]
By Waakhe Simon Wudu *JUBA - 23 February 2014 [Gurtong] - *Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) confirmed the figure in a statement released Thursday after it provided treatment to the patients in Malakal at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)' compound. The patients admitted to the medical facility of the UNMISS suffered gunshot wounds from the clashes in the town as well as injuries as a result of inter-communal fighting in the camp. The MSF statement warns the figure could be high. "MSF fears that the escalating levels of violence are threatening the security of the population even in the place where most of the displaced people are currently seeking refuge at the UNMISS compound," MSF said. UNMISS had revealed that it is hosting over 20,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in its compound in Malakal who have been affected by the violence. It said some of the displaced people reported cases of killing and rape of patients and relatives in the only functional hospital in the town. MSF also revealed looting of its facility which had been working until February 17, 2014. It warned that "more violence will have devastating consequences on the population." In the past two days MSF also reported that, more than 55 gunshot wounded patients from the fighting in Malakal have been brought for treatment to its facility in Nasir, Upper Nile state, with many more expected to arrive in the coming days. "The high levels of violence have disrupted the humanitarian activities launched in Malakal to respond to the crisis," says Llanos Ortiz, MSF deputy emergency desk manager. "The reigning insecurity is having a direct impact on the lives of the South Sudanese people and is also an obstacle for them to receive impartial medical humanitarian assistance." Since the onset of the crisis last December, fighting throughout the country is having serious consequences on the population, stricken not only by violence but also by a pre-existing alarming humanitarian situation, MSF noted. "There are episodes of violence in several areas of the country but South Sudan also suffers peaks of diseases such as measles and malaria. We are worried about the upcoming rainy season and the risk of outbreaks in a context where medical services have been widely disrupted," warns Ortiz. "This paints a grim picture for a vulnerable population with a scarcity of resources." Over 800,000 people are reported so far to have been affected by the crisis. Posted in: Home<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/1/Home.aspx> , Humanitarian<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/8/Humanitarian.aspx> , Foreign Aid/Assistance<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/30/Foreign-AidAssistance.aspx> , Featured Stories<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/137/Featured-Stories.aspx> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14opLGO2ahtkTTfoheVavGMD2mUuj0A-mRvw%2BpqZ2h4BGmw%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
