13 November 2011 - An increasing number of refugees and displaced people in Maban County, Upper Nile State, was severely straining local resources, its commissioner told a UN assessment mission visiting the capital Bunj today.

"Our market is running out of food items because of a daily increase in the number of the refugees," Commissioner Joshua Wango Amon told representatives of UNMISS, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

He said his county had received 50,000 refugees as well as displaced and that 17,000 were expected to arrive in the Jamam area, describing the humanitarian situation as "terrible" and beyond his capacity.

UNHCR representative Ahmed Monsen said his office was sending a verification team to Maban to identify the actual number of the refugees. OCHA would set up an office in Maban County to support refugees with non- food items, said its representative,
Richard Mukhwana.

The refugees, who had fled fighting in Sudan's Blue Nile State, and displaced headed for Bunj after an aerial bombardment on 8 November in Yafta and New Quffa near the border with Sudan, which had killed seven civilians and injured 12, according to Mr. Amon.

The commissioner thanked UNMISS for its assistance in evacuating the injured to Malakal Teaching Hospital for medical treatment.

On 11 November, an UNMISS team paid a one-day visit to Renk County, Upper Nile State, to assess the security threat of rebel groups and nomads in Kuek Payam, Manyo County, as well as areas in northern Renk.

"I called upon the humanitarian organizations and the South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission to support the refugees with food and non- food assistance," Mr. Amon said.

"The presence of the Arab nomads and the militias has become the major threat for the lives of the civilians in the northern part of Upper Nile State," said Renk County Commissioner Deng Akui Kak.

Fighting erupted in Blue Nile State between the Sudan People's Liberation Army/North and the Government of Sudan in September.