CAIRO: South Sudanese villagers are fleeing ethnic violence in and around the town of Pibor, the United Nations said on Monday. According to their reports, tens of thousands have fled the area as thousands of fighters advance on their ethnic rivals. The UN also called on villagers to leave the area at once as the fighters advance on the area. Fighters from the Lou Nuer ethnic group are pursuing members of the Murle community, reports from the area say, as a deadly vendetta over cattle raiding continues. A top UN official was quoted by the BBC that government troops and UN peacekeepers in the area are completely outnumbered, but the government said it would send additional troops to the area. The report late Monday comes after the government in Juba claimed they had taken control of the area on Sunday evening, but now the UN has warned villagers to leave the area. Some 1,000 people have been killed in recent months as reprisal attacks over cattle raids have escalated. Tens of thousands of Murle fled Pibor after it came under attack from the Lou Nuer on Saturday. “Several flanks of the attackers have moved in a south-easterly direction [from Pibor], almost certainly looking for cattle,” deputy UN deputy humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan Lise Grande said in an interview with the BBC. She said the main part of Pibor had been held but that a clinic belonging to the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) had been “overtaken”. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/kb2T1 Tags: Ethnic Violence, Pibor, South Sudan Section: Latest News, Sudan
