The thousands of South Sudanese have left their country since fighting erupted on July 7 between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those supporting Vice President Riek Machar, Andreas Needham, the spokesman for the UN refugee agency, said Friday, AP reported.
Although an uneasy peace has been established in South Sudan's capital, Juba, the UN official said the flow of people leaving the country has continued. More than 90 percent of the new refugees are women and children, he said.
The new refugees report that fighting is continuing in southern South Sudan and that in the Magwi area gunmen are looting properties and recruiting young men and boys, said the UN official.
The recent violence in South Sudan echoed the fighting that triggered the civil war and marks a fresh blow to last year's peace deal to end the bitter conflict that began when President Kiir accused ex-rebel and now Vice President Riek Machar of plotting a coup.