Save the children warns against refugee conditions on Sudan border

Save the Children organization has warned against the escalating refugee crisis in the border area between Sudan and South Sudan. Up to 2,000 children a day arrive at already over-crowded and flooded camps as a result of the ongoing conflict, the UK-based charity said. Violence has escalated in the border areas since the beginning of the conflict following South Sudan's independence last year. International aid agencies have issued warnings over the worsening situation of refugees at camps. Doctors Without Borders had announced at the beginning of July that preliminary studies reveal mortality rates nearly double the emergency threshold in a refugee camp in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State. Death rates were derived from rapid epidemiological surveys carried out in the Jamam refugee camp. "A toxic combination of conflict, rising food and fuel prices, and severe cash shortages is having a devastating effect on the civilian population in both countries. With the rains on the way the situation could not be more critical. We urgently need the fighting to stop so that we can get access and children can be protected from violence, deprivation, displacement and recruitment," South Sudan Country Director for Save the Children Jon Cunliffe said.