South Sudanese taking shelter at the UNMISS protection camp in Malakal in Upper Nile State expressed fears of being attack again if they return home.

Martino Ojuak told Radio Tamazuj inside the UNMISS camp in Malakal that they are fearing to return home due to rumours of the possibility of another rebel attack on the town.

He said the abandoned town has become a forest where by you can find grasses everywhere even inside houses, and this makes it difficult to inhabit, especially for children.

Ojuak stated their houses are also full on rainwater in comparison to the camp where they are currently living.

He said there are rumors every day of rebels coming into the town and this could not make their lives stable in the town.

Bona said, “We are always moving out daily from the camp to the town at day and came back to the PoC inside UNMISS in the evening because there is fear in people’s minds.”

Some people are moving out daily to renovate their houses destroyed during the crisis, he said.

Gatluak Liboth, Upper Nile State Minister of Information and Communications downplayed statements by IDPs inside UNMISS that the security in the state is not good, claiming that it is calm and most of the displaced are returning home.

“What is happening here to some IDPs is not that they are fearing to return home but most of their houses were burned down, lack beds, mattresses to sleep on and some of them come to the town for renovations daily,” he said.

“Our forces are in full control of the town and those whose houses are safe have come back home,” the state minister said.

He claimed the security is calm in all corners of the state and within the capital Malakal, which was abandoned by the civil population earlier this year during back-and-forth fighting for the town.

Photo: Homes burned in Malakal, 4 Feburary 2014 (WFP/Challiss McDonough)

Related:

Report on Malakal violence puts death toll at more than 700 (2 Sept.)