Renewed violence in Akobo County, in South Sudan's eastern Jonglei state, has forced Save the Children and other humanitarian groups to suspend operations and relocate staff, cutting off essential services for roughly 100,000 children. A military evacuation order issued March 6 compounded a crisis that has already displaced an estimated 267,000 people across Jonglei state since late last year.
A mass exodus toward Ethiopia
According to UNICEF, more than 100,000 people have fled Akobo town into Ethiopia since early March, part of a broader wave of displacement tied to fighting across the county. Towns in the area have faced repeated evacuations since the start of the year, with civilians, aid workers and peacekeepers all ordered to leave under the government's March 6 directive covering Akobo County.
One worker's account of the crossing
A Save the Children staff member identified by the pseudonym Reath James Nyaluak, whose real identity has been withheld for safety reasons, described fleeing Walgak for Akobo town in February. She recounted seeing children sitting beside deceased parents, pregnant women giving birth in the forest, and elderly people dying along the route. A former colleague's brother was reportedly killed while trying to bring the colleague's children to safety, and four children remain missing. While assisting an evacuation, Nyaluak said she swam across a river to retrieve a canoe for a stranded family - an expectant mother, a blind older woman and a young child - and that the mother gave birth during the crossing, naming the newborn after the canoe.
Humanitarian access and the broader stakes
Save the Children said it withdrew more than 45 staff from Akobo East this month after the surge in violence, halting health, nutrition, education, child protection, and water and sanitation programs. Chris Nyamandi, the organization's Country Director in South Sudan, said families displaced by the fighting are largely without humanitarian assistance, sleeping outdoors and struggling to find food. He warned that the current tensions risk undermining the peace agreement signed eight years ago, just months before South Sudan marks 15 years of independence.
Save the Children is calling on all parties to the conflict to protect civilians, uphold international humanitarian law, and allow safe, unhindered access for aid groups. The organization, which has operated in South Sudan since 1991, emphasized that humanitarian agencies remain neutral actors whose restricted access leaves vulnerable communities without critical support at a time of acute need.