KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) – The number of South Sudanese refugees sheltering in Uganda has reached 1 million, the United Nations said Thursday, a grim milestone for what has become the world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis.
Ugandan officials say they are overwhelmed by the flow of people fleeing South Sudan’s civil war and the U.N. refugee agency urges the international community to donate more for humanitarian assistance.
An average of 1,800 South Sudanese citizens have been arriving daily in Uganda over the past 12 months, the UNHCR said in a statement. Another one million or more South Sudanese are sheltering in Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Congo and Central African Republic.
The number of people fleeing jumped after deadly fighting again erupted in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, in July 2016.
“Recent arrivals continue to speak of barbaric violence, with armed groups reportedly burning down houses with civilians inside, people being killed in front of family members, sexual assaults of women and girls and kidnapping of boys for forced conscription,” the statement said.