Hundreds of thousands face imminent danger in Akobo, South Sudan, after the government ordered foreign NGOs to evacuate the conflict-torn town.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) pulled out Saturday, reporting that its facilities were looted following the army’s expulsion order to international aid agencies.
Jonglei state has seen clashes since December, displacing at least 280,000 people as a fragile power-sharing deal between President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar collapsed.
The United Nations said it had not complied with the exit order, maintaining peacekeepers and continuing to carry out mandated responsibilities in Akobo.
MSF warned residents face an “impossible choice” between fleeing without protection or remaining at high risk of being killed in ongoing violence.
Among those affected are 17,000 recently displaced people, who had fled fighting in nearby areas and now confront renewed threats to their lives.
AFP visited Akobo hospital last month, finding a single overwhelmed surgeon in ramshackle buildings with missing doors, broken windows, and scarce medical supplies.
Christophe Garnier, MSF’s head of mission, said families are repeatedly forced from their homes, left with no safe alternatives amid a deteriorating humanitarian crisis.
Many residents have already crossed into Ethiopia to escape violence, as MSF reports twelve attacks on its South Sudan facilities over the past year.
Army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said offensive operations would continue, blaming opposition forces for the looting, leaving the next military actions to local commanders’ discretion.
Since gaining independence in 2011, South Sudan has descended into cyclical civil war, with corruption crippling healthcare, leaving foreign NGOs as the primary providers of medical services.
