South Sudan Receives 10,000 People Fleeing Conflict in Sudan

On Monday evening, South Sudan confirmed receiving more than 10,000 civilians displaced by the ongoing conflict in neighboring Sudan.

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Foreign Affairs Minister Deng Dau Deng said the majority of the returnees are South Sudanese nationals, while others include Sudanese, Kenyans, Ugandans, Eritreans, and Somalis.

"On the situation of South Sudanese, the government is doing everything within its power to receive South Sudanese citizens who are returning to the country. In the last 24 hours, nearly 10,000 arrived in Renk, including nationals of some neighboring countries," he said.

The Foreign Affairs Minister disclosed that hundreds of other civilians have arrived in Northern and Western Bahr el Ghazal states, respectively. Deng said the government has opened its airspace for countries evacuating their diplomats and nationals.

He said 24 Kenyan nationals who arrived from Sudan through the northern border from Paloch Airport in Upper Nile State were evacuated on Monday to Juba. 

This came after Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and his rival Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), reached a three-day ceasefire deal.

Deng revealed that the lull in fighting has allowed diplomatic missions to evacuate staff and nationals, adding that hundreds of Sudanese have also been given time to relocate to nearby regions.

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has engaged the warring Sudanese parties to ensure that the temporary humanitarian ceasefire is held to allow foreign missions to evacuate their diplomatic staff and nationals.