As fighting spirals in South Sudan, humanitarian crisis looms for displaced survivors

Описание: (26 Feb 2026)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4640157

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Akobo, Jonglei State, South Sudan - 21 February 2026
1. Wide aerial shot of Jonglei State, South Sudan
2. Wide shot of displaced people in a church compound in Akobo, South Sudan
3. Medium shot of displaced people in a church compound in Akobo, South Sudan
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Tom Fletcher, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
++ SOUNDBITE PART OVERLAID BY SHOTS 2-3 AND 5-10++
"We need that political engagement from the Security Council, from the great powers, from the regional powers, to say enough because this is a conflict over resources that people here will never see and so we need those guns to fall silent. I’ve seen so many gunshot wounds today. Children with gunshot wounds. Seventy-year-olds with gunshot wounds. This is completely unacceptable. The war has got to end. We’re going to work much harder to deliver the peace that people are desperate to see.”
5. Tom Fletcher entering a Akobo County Hospital in Jonglei State, South Sudan
6. Tom Fletcher consoling a family
7. Wide shot of a child with a gunshot wound being treated
8. Medium of a child with a gunshot wound being bandaged up
9. Wide shot of an old woman whose leg has been amputated
10. Medium of Tom Fletcher consoling a family
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Tab, reproductive health officer with Nile Hope, a South Sudanese NGO:
++SOUNDBITE PART OVERLAID BY SHOTS 12-16++
"There’s no feeding. There’s no drugs. There's a high need for medication and feeding. And also some shelters too. They need shelters. Like for how long will they be in the church and in the school ? The school is shut down because they have nowhere to stay. That’s why they stay in the church and also in the school.”
12. Wide shot of displaced people inside a church
13. Medium shot of a mother breastfeeding children whose mothers are missing
14. Close up of the woman breastfeeding children whose mothers are missing
15. Medium of a mother playing with her child
16. Close up of a mother playing with her child
17. Wide shot of the displaced people inside the church compound
18. Medium of displaced people inside the church compound holding placards with one reading "SSPDF (South Sudan People’s Defense Forces) burnt our home and killed elderly women and children"
STORYLINE:
Kool Gatyen Pajock was in a South Sudan hospital while a physiotherapist wrapped bandages around the 18-month-old’s legs under the watchful eye of his grandmother, Nyayual Chuol.

Government forces put a bullet in the baby’s leg and killed his parents, according to Chuol, who carried him to the hospital in Akobo, South Sudan’s northeastern region near Ethiopia, from their village 130 kilometers (80 miles) to the west.

They were among the 280,000 people who have been displaced in the past two months by a renewed conflict in Jonglei state between the government army, known as the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces, and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement In Opposition.

“I have nothing in my hand now to take care of this baby,” Chuol said. “I’m worried about my four children who ran in different directions when the attack took place. I don’t know where they are now.”

The fighting further threatens a fragile peace reached in 2018 after a five-year civil war.


The conflict escalated in December when opposition forces seized government outposts in Jonglei. The government has conducted a counteroffensive since January with aerial bombardments and ground assaults, despite an official commitment to the peace agreement.


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