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The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and local authorities said Wednesday that three aid workers and 11 civilians were killed in an attack by armed groups in South Sudan in early January.
“Earlier in the year, three South Sudanese aid workers who were helping others paid the highest price with their lives.
Two of them were victims of an attack by militants in a village in the oil-rich Abyei governorate on January 2, according to the UN agency, while the others died.
Abyei spokesman Ajak Deng told AFP that a total of 14 people, including women and children, were killed in the attack.
The disputed area under UN protection has been on the border between Sudan and South Sudan since South Sudan declared independence in 2011.
A third rescue worker death occurred during the same week of monitoring humanitarian aid in the east-central state of Jonglei.
These three deaths are in addition to nine last year and five in 2021.
OCHA has urged authorities to step up protections for staff in the oil-rich country, one of the world’s poorest.
Since independence in 2011, South Sudan has been plagued with crises. For example, an estimated 400,000 people died in his five-year civil war between President Salvakir’s supporters and Vice President Riekmachar’s forces.
A peace accord was signed in 2018, but since then there have been sporadic acts of violence between government forces and opposition parties, as well as inter-ethnic conflicts.
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