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The UN has decried the lack of information about the situation of some 20,000 internally displaced people in S/Sudan on the west bank of the Nile in the country’s north.

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), David Shearer, stated this in a statement on Thursday in New York.

“We want to find out what has happened to those people, and provide them with assistance if they need it,” Shearer said in a statement issued by the Office of the UN Secretary-General on Thursday.

According to him, UNMISS believes that the 20,000 people have fled towards Kodok from Wau Shilluk, a town eight miles north of the UN base in Malakal on the west bank of the River Nile.

He said fighting between the Government Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and opposition forces had expanded geographically across the west bank over the past week and forced more people to flee their homes.

He said on Thursday the UN peacekeepers attempt to carry out a foot patrol to Wau Shilluk was prevented by SPLA soldiers and described the situation as “very frustrating”.

Shearer described government relocations by air of internally displaced people through Juba into Malakal as unsustainable unless the IDPs are also supported with humanitarian assistance on arrival.

The UNMISS chief said the Shilluk population of Malakal had abandoned the town and 33,000 people were currently taking refuge in the camp administered by UNMISS.

(NAN)