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Gallery|Human Rights

South Sudan’s Wau: Fear and displacement one year on

‘It is not a war against rebels, it is a war of looking who is from that tribe and they kill you.’

A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
After fighting broke out in the city of Wau last year, thousands of people fled to the United Nations base seeking protection. Around 39,000 now live in the camp that has formed there, living in temporary shelters made of sticks and tarpaulins. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]
By Phil Hatcher-Moore
Published On 3 Jul 2017

Wau, South Sudan – A year ago, the area surrounding the United Nations base on the outskirts of Wau was just open fields. But when fighting reached the northwestern city, hitherto largely untouched by the conflict that has cleaved through South Sudan since late 2013, thousands of people fled to the UN base, and to the cathedral on the other side of town.

Now, according to the UN, around 39,000 people live in the camp surrounded by razor wire and guard-towers of peacekeepers, and some 13,000 live in the grounds of the cathedral with few policemen posted outside.

Country-wide, nearly two million people are internally displaced, and over 1.8 million have fled the world’s newest state. The violence that erupted in June last year brought in a new chapter to South Sudan’s civil war. Civilian populations have been repeatedly targeted in the conflict, amid peace negotiations and flaunted ceasefires. Many of the people living in the camps in Wau are now just a kilometre or two from their home, but are too scared to return, or to step outside the razor-wire fence. 

A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
'I was born and grew up in Wau,' said Ramadan Karama, sitting outside the small shelter where he has lived for the past year after fleeing the fighting that spread through the city. He said he has not been able to leave the confines of the camp because of the insecurity. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]
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A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
The new wave of arrivals in April this year stretched the capacity of the camp, and hundreds of people live in the open air, without shelter. Some people said they still have not received ration cards, or any food aid since they arrived. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]
A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
Ten-year-old Emmanuella and her sister Georgette fled their home in Wau on April 10, and now live with their four other siblings and their parents in a space of about three metres by two metres, including this one bed. 'It’s better here than home, because home is not safe,' said Emmanuella. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]
A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
Across the city in the grounds of St Mary's Cathedral, Emmanuel, nine, is one of the 13,000 people who has sought shelter at the church over the past year. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]
A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
In the old church, where the walls are pockmarked by bullets, two girls lie on a bare bed frame. Several families live in the hall, and many more outside in makeshift shelters. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]
A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
Theresa lives with her four grandchildren in a makeshift shelter around the terrace of one of the church buildings, where she has lived for the past year. 'Our house here in town, all the iron roofing, the doors, they were all removed,' she said of her former home in town. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]
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A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
A man builds a makeshift shelter in the grounds of the church. 'It is not a war against rebels, it is a war of looking who is from that tribe and they kill you,' one of the people living here said. 'They were mainly targeting the males, even the boys.' [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]
A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
Humanitarian agencies have installed water points across the UN camp, providing clean water. South Sudan has seen many cholera outbreaks over the past year, and clean water and hygiene practices are a priority in the camp. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]
A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
Fatima has been at the camp for a year now, washing her clothes outside the shelter she occupies on the edge of the camp, ringed by razor wire. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]
A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
'We have seen signs of trauma,' said Busha Mansour, a psychosocial case worker in this child-friendly space in the camp, which is supported by UNICEF. 'We have seen a lot of change in the children since they first started coming,' he said. 'Their behaviour is getting better with the counselling.' [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]
A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
The health centre in the camp sees a variety of cases, from malnutrition to measles. Marcelina is being treated for chickenpox. Staff said there have been many cases of chickenpox infection in the clinic over the past two weeks. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]
A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
Mothers and their children gather for a malnutrition screening which takes place twice weekly. Across the country, UNICEF estimates that more than 276,000 children will be severely malnourished in 2017. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]
A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
Children pump water in the cathedral grounds. Only 41 percent of the population of South Sudan have access to clean water. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]
A year after the war came/ Please DO Not Use
While enough shelters are being built, people live outside with no shelter as the rainy season approaches. [Phil Hatcher-Moore/UNICEF/Al Jazeera]