Officials in South Sudan’s Yei River State say thousands of people who fled their homes during fighting over the past two weeks are without food or clean water.
Other local residents fled across the border into the northern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The residents fled fighting between government forces and National Salvation Front rebels led by Thomas Cirillo.
Witnesses told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus that soldiers killed civilians, raped women, and burned entire villages.
We are suffering, and children are crying amidst us because they are hungry and there is no food," Dawa told VOA.
James Guya, a father of six who also fled with his children to the shelter outside Yei, said women and children are especially in need of help.
We are staying here without access to clean water.
Lack of funds Moses Mabe, relief and rehabilitation commission coordinator for Yei River County, said county and state governments lack the funds needed to help.
Humanitarian access Eujin Byun, the UNHCR communications officer in Juba, is urging the warring parties to end the fighting and to guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers trying to intervene.
"We have an access challenge to those IDPs and we have been blocked by the parties to the conflict, and that is why we are calling on all parties to the conflict to ensure free civilian movement and access for humanitarian actors," Byun told South Sudan in Focus.