Thousands of Tambura internal displaced persons queuing for verification in Ezo County Western Equatoria State on July 26, 2021 | Credit |Mustafa Bona

The internally displaced persons in Tambura County, Western Equatoria State, are calling on the national government to provide security in order to return home.

Nearly four months of fighting in the county have forced mainly women and children to flee Source Yubu, Akpa, Mabenge, Kpatanayo, and other locations.

Over 40,000 people – according to the UN – sought refuge in schools and churches in Wau, Tambura town, Nagero, Nzara, Ezo and Yambio – where living conditions are dire.

Some of the  IDPs spoke to Eye Radio on Monday.

“The life situation in tambura is tough really there is no way, we need support for it, and those who doing these we need the force of government to come to relocate these people out from Tambura so that peace may come to Tambura,” John Woduapai told Eye Radio.

“You can send some people to come and help us to support us then other soldiers to come and protect us, because those soldiers here cannot help us, they are supporting their different people here in Tambura. Now the fighting is still going on, they are still killing people here.”

“You need to relocate people out from Tambura and send them far away so that the few populations may get peace, women are dying, children are dying, all the properties have been destroyed,” Awa Susan said.

Another IDPs with name Medina Vicencsio has this to says: “What I want to ask them to do is food, let them help us with food stuff, children are falling sick, because there is no food, no medicine in the Hospital. Let them help us with food items and medicines.”

For his part, Fr. Emmanuel Bie, a Catholic Priest – who is also under protection of UNMISS asks humanitarian groups to help the vulnerable groups.

“My appeal to the national government is to let them consider Tambura as an emergency county. Secondly I am appealing to the humanitarian agencies to consider the life of people in Tambura. People have no shelter, people have no food, and people have nothing that they can survive on,” Fr. Emmanuel Bie said.

“If humanity is for the lives of people they should come and assess the situation in Tambura. I am urging the Red Cross, an international organization that deals with emergency bodies, why don’t they come down, even the rotting body on the ground to collect them and bury them because we are unable to do that.”