South Sudan refugees hit 1 million –UN

The United Nations has revealed that over 1 million refugees have fled war-torn South Sudan for safety in neighboring countries with women, children and survivors of violent attacks making up the numbers.

South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, has now joined “Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia as countries which have produced more than a million refugees”, Leo Dobbs, spokesman for the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, said on Friday.

“This is a very sad milestone,” he added.

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“Most of those fleeing South Sudan are women and children. They include survivors of violent attacks, sexual assault, children that have been separated from their parents or travelled alone, the disabled, the elderly and people in need of urgent medical care,” he said.

About 185,000 people have fled the country since early July, when fierce fighting flared in the capital Juba, between supporters of President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, then-vice president.

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