UN South Sudan representative to visit conflict area

The UN special representative in South Sudan will travel to the country's west, where renewed fighting has prompted thousands to flee, the United Nations said Thursday.

Ellen Margrethe Loej said she will travel on Saturday to Wau, one of the country's largest cities, "to assess the situation for myself."

"I continue to call for an end to violence for the sake of the civilians, who have suffered far too much for far too long."

This photo taken on July 1, 2016 shows people waiting to be registered as displaced persons in a South Sudan Redcross compound in Wau, South Sudan ©Charles Lomodong (AFP/File)

The situation in Wau -- around 400 miles (650 kilometers) northwest of the capital Juba -- remains tense after heavy mortar and machine gun fire was heard Thursday south of a UN base there.

The episode prompted some 200 to 250 civilians to join those already taking refuge there, the UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said.

The base is hosting some 19,000 civilians displaced by the fighting.

The UN has repeatedly asked President Salva Kiir's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) to allow aid workers free access to the population and help encourage the return of internally displaced people.

More than 160,000 civilians are taking refuge in UN camps across the country.

Civil war broke out in 2013 after Kiir sacked his deputy Riek Machar just two years after the country seceded from Sudan.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands -- the exact death toll is unknown -- and left more than 2.3 million displaced.

As part of a peace deal signed last year, Machar returned to Juba in April to take up the post of vice president in a national unity government.

However, fighting continues in parts of the country between various groups that are often motivated by local interests and do not consider themselves involved in the peace agreement.