South Sudan – 4 March 2016

South Sudan oil production pollution threatens thousands: monitors

Dangerous heavy metals used in oil production in war-torn South Sudan have leaked into drinking water sources used by 180,000 people with life-threatening health risks, a rights group said.

Toxicological tests carried out on hair samples from 96 volunteers living around the Thar Jath oil processing plant in South Sudan’s northern Unity region revealed they were “highly intoxicated with pollutants such as lead and barium,” said Klaus Stieglitz, from the German-based Sign of Hope organisation.

TimesLive

South Sudan crisis is worsening: UN

South Sudan’s humanitarian crisis is catastrophic and continues to worsen as warring sides are “dragging their feet” in implementing a peace deal, the UN peacekeeping chief said Wednesday.

Herve Ladsous said “tens of thousands of people have died — we’ve lost count” and some two million have been driven from their homes in the war, now in its third year.

TimesLive