NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – Civilians and aid workers in South Sudan have seen an alarming rise in attacks and harassment in the past week, the United Nations said Saturday, as the East African country faces both civil war and famine.
The top U.N. humanitarian official in South Sudan, Eugene Owusu, said in a statement that both government and opposition forces in Upper Nile region beat aid workers in separate incidents.
“Humanitarians are in this country to save lives. It is beyond reckoning that they continue to be killed, harassed and abused despite our repeated calls for action,” Owusu said.
He also called an attack by government forces on the southern town of Pajok that killed several dozen people “reprehensible.” The attack sent thousands of people fleeing into neighboring Uganda, worsening what has become the world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis.
The U.N. says its peacekeepers repeatedly have been denied access to Pajok by South Sudan’s government, a violation of its operating agreement.