South Sudan: Humanitarian Snapshot (December 2017)

In December 2017, fighting between the government and the opposition forces was reported in Koch and Bieh (Unity), and in Raja (Western Bahr el Ghazal), displacing thousands of people. During the armed clashes on Raja-Wau road on 16 December, armed groups held six aid workers from two national and international agencies and displaced thousands of people from their homes to Wau town.

Others fled to Sudan, where partners reported the arrival of over 3,700 new refugees in South Darfur, South and West Kordofan and White Nile states. In Rumbek Centre County (Lakes), dozens of people were killed in inter-communal violence. An assessment mission in the aftermath of the Rumbek violence found over 2,200 homes razed, which had left thousands homeless. About 3,160 people fled to Uganda between 1 and 31 December, following fighting in Yei and Kajo-keji counties. However, the number of South Sudanese refugees in Uganda had dropped to 986,140 at the end of December from 1.03 million the previous month. Partners in Upper Nile helped close Melut Protection of Civilians (PoC) site, as over 560 people were assisted to return to their places of origin in Western Bahr el Ghazal, Unity and Jonglei.

In Bor (Jonglei), over 250 people were assisted to voluntarily leave the PoC site to different locations in Fangak. Cholera transmission continued to decline significantly with the last cases reported in Budi and Juba in December. At least 27 counties have been affected by the cholera outbreak since June 2016.