South Sudan gunmen attack UN food aid shipments

Armed members of a South Sudan tribe attacked on the weekend barges carrying UN food aid, a UN official said, amid unconfirmed reports that several people were killed. Gunmen from the Jikany Nuer ethnic group attacked some 27 barges carrying aid for the UN’s World Food Programme outside the town of Nassir in Upper Nile state, said Michelle Iseminger. The barges were on their way to the town of Akobo when they were attacked, said Iseminger, the WFP programme director for South Sudan. Officials said the supplies are vital to support some 18,000 displaced people in Akobo who fled their homes in fighting earlier this year.Iseminger said that 16 boats managed to return to Nassir, but the fate of the 11 other barges was still unknown. “Nobody knows their real conditions now,” she said. According to local reports, several people were killed or wounded during the attack.“There are many wounded in the hospital including soldiers, and many killed, there are dozens dead,” said one resident of Nassir town, asking not to be named. UN officials were unable to confirm the reports. The attacks follow clashes in May between factions of the Lou Nuer and Jikany ethnic groups, in which at least 66 people were killed according to local officials.