South Sudan civil war causes Africa’s worst refugee crisis

The United Nations says South Sudan's four-year civil war has left half of the country's 6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. The conflict began when South Sudan's army split into factions loyal to President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar. The two men mobilized their tribes, the Dinka and the Nuer. The war caused what is now one of the worst refugee crises in the world.

Simone Foltin:

Civil war is ravaging vast areas of South Sudan. The violence led to the expulsion of four million people, including two million who fled to neighboring countries. Last year, more than a million South Sudanese poured into northern Uganda alone, crossing makeshift bridges like this one to escape fighting, famine and brutal attacks on civilians.

SEME LUPAI, ARRIVAL:

They started fighting very, very brutally. This forced us to flee with our property to this side.

Simone Foltin:

When Seme Lupai's family went to one of the refugee camps, he initially stayed there to look after the family's most prized possession—their cattle. He hid for a year to escape violence. Refugees carry everything they can salvage: mattresses, pots, clothes, notebooks – the remnants of a once peaceful life turned upside down. At checkpoints, Ugandan soldiers search their belongings for weapons before refugees are sent to reception centers. Once in Uganda, refugees register at small transit stations. For many, this is their first night in safety after days of walking to escape the fighting. Levi Arike fled with his wife and four children.

LEVI ARIKE, REFUGEE:

When the shots started, our whole family lay down under a tree because there was nowhere else to hide. We waited until the fighting stopped, and then we got up and went to Uganda.

Simone Foltin:

Uganda currently bears much of the burden of Africa's largest refugee crisis, running scores of camps in need of food, water, healthcare and police protection. At Imvepi camp, now home to more than 120,000 South Sudanese, new arrivals receive vaccinations, hot meals and basic supplies such as soap and plastic tarpaulins to build a home. The government also provides each refugee family with a small plot of land, about a twentieth of an acre, where they can build a tent camp and grow crops for food or sale. But the land is often too rocky for farming.

SIMONE FOLTIN, IMVEPI REFUGEE CAMP, NORTHERN UGANDA:

Once the registration process is completed, new arrivals will be given their allotment to start a new life as refugees in Uganda. Although they are safe here, there are many challenges ahead, not least the need to deal with the trauma they suffered at home.

This woman, whom we will call “Agnes,” agreed to tell us about her harrowing experience. She says four government soldiers from President Salva Kiir's Dinka tribe stopped her as she fled South Sudan and raped her in front of her family.

AGNES:

(English translation) When they started raping me, I was told not to raise the alarm, otherwise I would be shot. Even when I sleep, I dream about the Dinks that they come to rape me again.

Simone Foltin:

How often do you have dreams like this?

AGNES:

Every day, every time I lie down, these dreams come to me.

Simone Foltin:

A recent Human Rights Watch report on South Sudan identified “…a clear pattern of government forces unlawfully targeting civilians for murder, rape, torture…and destruction of property…”. The victims belong to ethnic groups suspected of supporting the rebels.

AGNES:

They do this because they know very well that these soldiers are our brothers. This is how they do it to punish them…

Simone Foltin:

While the rebels, known as the Opposition Sudan People's Liberation Army, claim to protect local communities, there are also reports of their fighters attacking civilians near the Ugandan border. Josephine Yanja told us that she did not feel safe in the presence of soldiers from either side. Her family and neighbors fled the village after government soldiers killed her uncle.

They hid in the mountains only to come under attack again, this time from opposition fighters from the Nuer tribe, loyal to former vice-president Riek Machar. Yanya says ethnic Nuer soldiers from the SPLA-IO rebel group raped a member of her group and stole her father's cattle.

Josephine Jana:

(English translation) We used to think that the rebels would protect us, but if they don't have enough food, they just come and take things by force.

Simone Foltin:

Unable to hide, Yanya and her son fled to Uganda. But instead of finding a place where they can rebuild their lives, they find themselves in limbo. And aid groups don't have enough food to distribute.

Josephine Jana:

(translated into English) We receive small food rations. I know that this will not be enough even for one month.

Simone Foltin:

The international community has provided less than a third of the $1.4 billion needed to help refugees in South Sudan's neighboring countries, according to the United Nations. These refugees anticipate new hardships and have no idea when they will be able to return home.

Josephine Jana:

(translated into English) I always pray for peace in South Sudan, until then I will just stay here.