WFP warns of crisis in South Sudan

JUBA, South Sudan, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The situation for South Sudanese villagers returning from the bush following attacks by an ethnic group is grave, a U.N. humanitarian official said.

U.N. officials working in South Sudan said peacekeepers in the region were outnumbered by fighters with the Lou Nuer ethnic group but were able to prevent the conflict from escalating.

Peacekeepers with the U.N. Mission in South Sudan said they were monitoring the movement of the fighters while focusing on pressing humanitarian needs.

Lise Grande, a U.N. humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan, said civilian casualties were likely in the triple digits. Those returning from spending several days in the bush, meanwhile, had pressing needs.

"We saw many people returning, and their condition was serious," she said in a statement. "Families had been out in the bush for up to a week."

The United Nations' World Food Program said the humanitarian situation was getting worse as aid workers pick up the pieces from the ethnic violence.

Violence between the Lou Nuer and Murle groups near Jonglei state "has pushed the food security situation to crisis levels."

UNMISS notes Jonglei, the center of civil conflict in Sudan in the 1980s, has experienced the worst of the ethnic violence since South Sudan became an independent country in July.