
The commissioner of Nagero County in Western Equatoria State has requested humanitarian assistance for thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) who fled conflict in nearby Tambura County.
The newly appointed commissioner, Henry Bangada Assaya, said on Sunday that the humanitarian condition of Tambura’s IDPs is severe, since they are now staying in schools and open areas without food, clean drinking water, or medications.
11,000 IDPs have been verified to have arrived in Namatina Payam, with an additional 17,000 in Duma Payam in Nagero County.
“I am the recently appointed commissioner of Nagero County, and we are dealing with the problem of IDPs fleeing Tambura to Nagero County. I have no place to settle them, yet
“I have put them up at a school compound,” he stated. “The IDPs that reached my county are a large number and I am calling for urgent humanitarian support in terms of water, shelter, and food to assist them very quickly.”
The commissioner also stated: “As I talk to you, I have nothing to help the IDPs but I have accommodated them and given them some little cassava flour which is not enough for them.”
He stated that the IDPs escaped intercommunal conflict in Tombura, which began in 2021 and has continued intermittently since then.
“There is no one in Tombura since everyone fled along the route to Wau. There is currently a lot of violence in Tambura, while some have fled to Ezo. and Yambio,” he explained. “My request to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs is that they assist me with the folks who escaped from Tambura to Nagero and are very ill. We’re hearing about cholera, and I need them to provide food, shelter, water, and clothing.”