Violence in and around Sudan’s contested Abyei region has displaced up to 40,000 people, a senior UN official said Wednesday, amid reports of war crimes, looting and burning. Senior UN aid official Lise Grande said that estimates of the number of people fleeing had dramatically increased.
“Our initial estimates are that 30,000 to 40,000 people have been displaced,” said Grande who helps coordinate UN humanitarian efforts in south Sudan. “That includes some 10,000 people from Abyei area fleeing direct fighting and 25,000 more from the Agok area, just across the southern border, where people are leaving homes fearing future violence,” she said.
