The War Disabled Commission in South Sudan says it has not registered soldiers who suffered disabling wounds during the ongoing civil war, which started in December 2013.

Even those wounded more than two years ago at Heglig/Panthou during the brief undeclared border war between Sudan and South Sudan have not been registered.

Brig. Gen. Dut Acuek Lual, the commission's director-general of operations, pointed out that victims of the current conflict have not been registered with the commission, nor those wounded in the 2012 ‘War of Panthou’.

“We have not gone down to collect data, but definitely there is a big increase in the number [of disabled],” said Lual in an interview published yesterday by Anadolu Agency, the official news service of Turkey. 

The news agency reported that there are 37,735 disabled people registered with the commission, all from the 1983-2005 war, and none from the current war.

According to Lual, practical challenges have prevented the newly disabled soldiers and civilians from being registered. He said it was not a case of discrimination.

“Any disability sustained as a result of war, be it a soldier or civilian who has sustained a disability during the war of liberation, is a beneficiary of this place,” he said.

Related:

‘Scandal’ of silence on S Sudan war victims (17 Nov.)

Opinion: Disability is not inability (17 Nov.)

Opinion: Educated the disabled in South Sudan (17 Nov.)

Wounded in War: injured soldier struggles to pay for treatment (26 July)

Rumbek Hospital struggles to cope with SPLA wounded (29 Apr.)

Upper Nile: 43 wounded fighters arrive in Melut (6 March)

Medical sources say about 750 wounded in Upper Nile region fighting (25 Feb.)