Nearly 40,000 people have been displaced from their homes following renewed fighting in South Sudan’s oil-rich Upper Nile State, an UN agency has said.
In its latest update, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said threats of violence continue to hamper humanitarian response in the state.
It said the displaced people were living in dire conditions and required urgent life-saving assistance.
Last week ceasefire monitors said they would send a team to investigate the ongoing deadly clashes in the state.
Fighting has been reported in the state since state mid-November – reportedly involving the national army and the Maiwut opposition forces.
There are also reports of renewed hostilities in Fashoda area between different ethnic rival groups.
A prominent civil society group, the Community for Progress Organisation (CEPO), told the BBC that it received credible reports from civilians about armed youths amassing troops in the state over the weekend.
The BBC could not independently verify this information.
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