Violence in Western Bahr el Ghazal
Since mid-2015 there have been increasing levels of violence in the Wau area of WBeG. Long standing intercommunal tensions between Fertit and Dinka groups last escalated into serious violence in 2012. In December 2015, a deployment of Government forces to the town exacerbated already significant tensions in the area. What is likely to have started as a local protest is increasingly becoming a mobilisation of greater significance, with militia groups conducting larger operations. On 15 June, an attack on the town of Raga demonstrated how anti-government militias were gaining strength and support in the region. The Government has countered by using militia groups to support regular SPLA soldiers, which is likely to lead to further tensions and corresponding violence. Displacement of people in the vicinity of Wau, in addition to significant displacement taking place in Raga, is set to continue.
101,955* IDPs in Wau County
4,667* IDPs registered in Udici Payam, Jur River
Humanitarian Needs
The ICWG has now identified over 100,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance and protection in Wau County with reports civilians have been targeted, threatened, killed, tortured, raped, abducted and repeatedly displaced. The violence has caused alarming levels of food insecurity, disrupted livelihoods for thousands and affected access to vital community services. Humanitarians are experiencing increasingly complex access negotiations in what is already a difficult and remote working environment. IOM is also concerned about reports from attacks in Raja, with thousands displaced and humanitarian goods and equipment looted and destroyed.