Cholera kills 32 in South Sudan, says UN

A file photo taken on March 3, 2014 shows a child suffering from severe malnutrition being assisted by medical staff in a medical camp run by international humanitarian organisation Doctors without Borders (MSF, Medicins Sans Frontieres). More than 700 cholera cases have been reported in the capital Juba and Bor, the capital of Jonglei state, in the last five weeks, according to the UN children's agency UNICEF. Photo - AFP

London: A cholera outbreak in war-torn South Sudan has killed at least 32 people, a fifth of them children under five, and schools have a major role to play in stemming the spread of the disease, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, the United Nations said that the number of South Sudanese civilians sheltering in UN bases has risen above 150,000 for the first time in 18 months of civil war.

More than 700 cholera cases have been reported in the capital Juba and Bor, the capital of Jonglei state, in the last five weeks, according to the UN children's agency UNICEF.

"Cholera is a deadly disease that inordinately affects young children," Jonathan Veitch, UNICEF representative in South Sudan, said in a statement.

"One of the most powerful ways we can respond to this outbreak is by equipping schoolchildren with the information and tools they need to protect themselves and their families."

An intestinal infection often linked to contaminated drinking water, cholera causes diarrhoea and vomiting, leaving small children especially vulnerable to death from dehydration.

As many as 5,000 children under five are at risk of dying from cholera unless urgent action is taken to contain the outbreak, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said last week.

Children are being encouraged to raise awareness about the disease among their families and communities in a country where only one in four adults are literate, according to UNICEF.

UNICEF is also broadcasting cholera prevention messages, hosting talk shows on radio stations, conducting vaccination campaigns and training volunteers, teachers and religious leaders about prevention and early detection of cholera.

Veitch said the cholera outbreak could lead to a devastating loss of life if it spreads into conflict-hit states where almost 200 health facilities have been closed or destroyed.

"It's a race against time to prevent the spread of cholera up the river Nile, especially during the rainy season. Our priority right now is reaching the most vulnerable children who urgently need clean water and vaccinations," Veitch said.

Health Minister Riek Gai Kok said last month that one of the casualties had died at a United Nations facility housing civilians seeking refuge from the civil war raging in the world's youngest nation state.

The conflict pits forces loyal to President Salva Kiir against rebels allied with former vice president Riek Machar, and more than 10,000 people have been killed since the fighting first erupted in December 2013.

The conflict has also created a humanitarian crisis, as more than 730,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries and some 1.5 million people have been uprooted within the country, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

At least 167 people died in South Sudan in a cholera outbreak last year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Meanwhile, a total of 153,769 civilians are now seeking safety behind the barbed wire of six peacekeeping bases of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

Many fled into the bases, which are spread across the country, as war broke out in December 2013 and have never left because they are too terrified to venture out for fear of being killed.

But tens of thousands more have entered the bases during an upsurge in fighting since April, taking those seeking shelter to the highest number yet. Over 10,000 have arrived in the past week alone, according to official figures released by UNMISS.

Over 28,000 are based in the capital Juba.

Another 91,500 are sheltering in Bentiu, capital of the northern battleground state of Unity, where a UN report last month described how South Sudan's army raped then burned girls alive inside their homes during a recent campaign marked by "new brutality and intensity".

Gunmen on Sunday shot and killed a civilian sheltering in the base, which the United Nations said on Tuesday may constitute a war crime.

More than 30,000 people are also in the UN base in Malakal, capital of the northeastern Upper Nile state.

The town has been left in ruins by intense fighting, swapping hands several times, with the government forces retaking it again on Monday after around a week under rebel control during which gunmen killed a civilian and wounded others inside the UN base.

The world's youngest nation marks on Thursday its fourth year since winning independence from north Sudan on July 9, 2011, with the UN listing South Sudan "lower in terms of human development than just about every other place on earth."

Kiir accused Machar of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings across the country that has split the poverty-stricken, landlocked country along ethnic lines.

Over 2.25 million have been forced from their homes, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday, releasing the latest figures of those affected.

Over 730,000 South Sudanese are refugees in neighbouring nations. Ethiopia hosts the majority, followed by Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.

A further 1.5 million are refugees in their own country, living in squalid displacement camps, in swamps and forests, or in villages considered safe only because they are deep inside their own ethnic fiefdoms.

"Political efforts so far have failed to bring an end to the conflict, and the outlook for the affected populations remains grim," UNHCR said in a statement, adding that some 180 refugees cross into Ethiopia each day.

"Recent weeks have seen an escalation in violence in Unity and Upper Nile states, with heavy fighting forcing tens of thousands of people to flee to the bush and swamplands."