Seeking shelter in war-torn South Sudan

Details: Written/Submitted by External Source; Category: South Sudan & African News From Various Sources; Published: 14 October 2017; Hits: 2683

Thousands of members of the Shilluk tribe took refuge from the fighting between government forces and rebels, camping out under trees. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]

Nearly four million people, or roughly a third of the country's population, have been forced from their homes by the conflict in South Sudan ^[1].

Some have fled to neighbouring countries, while others have been living in the sprawling camps surrounding United Nations ^[2] bases across South Sudan. Others, including thousands of members of the Shilluk tribe, have been moving from town to town through the bush as front lines sweep across the country.

This past May, more than 17,000 Shilluk settled in what was once a small village, Aburoc, straddling a dry river bed. They were desperately clinging to their ancestral homeland as the fighting pushed them closer towards the border with Sudan ^[3].

"I'm afraid," Sunday Odok told Al Jazeera. "I don't know what's happening, and what will happen tomorrow."

Malaria is deadly in South Sudan and mosquito nets are often among the first things distributed by aid agencies. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]

Shinduk Nyaker Oluak, 13, originally from Niya, began building this shelter after having been in Aburoc for three months. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]

Bundles of wood form a wall around a cooking fire burning in the camp. Most people survive on sorghum, which is boiled with water. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]

A mosquito net forms a rudimentary door across a shelter built in Aburoc. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]

The Red Cross distributed several thousand tarpaulins, which people used to keep their food and belongings dry. The weather can go from dry to heavy rains in a short period of time. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]

With such sparse cover, these tarpaulin sheets provide some of the only shelter people have from the rainy season. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]

Nyamum Adial, left, and Anay Ajawean, right, fled the fighting in Fashoda. They sit outside their makeshift shelter, which lacks a roof. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]

Asunda Kor, 35, cooks while holding her one-year-old daughter, Martha Kor. Asunda and her seven children have been here for three months, after fleeing fighting in Kodok. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]

Empty food sacks are used as a wall for a shelter. Many of the people here rely on food dropped by the World Food Programme. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]

Nyatom Abuan sits as Theresa Bol washes dishes outside the rudimentary shelter they share. They have been here for two months since fleeing their home in Tonja. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]

Oman Onuk, Falo Kur, and James Kuol fled the fighting in Wau-Shilluk. They have been here one month, and are pictured with all that they possess. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]

A girl cooks food on a campfire under a tree in the village of Aburoc. She and her family have been here for four months, sheltering under this tree. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]

A makeshift tent, constructed from a tarpaulin given out by an aid organisation, is pictured next to other shelters in Aburoc. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]

The aid does not reach everyone, however, and many people have only the spindly branches of the few remaining trees for shelter. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/Al Jazeera]