South Sudanese fleeing their homes in Malakal on January 21, 2014.
The United Nations has voiced concerns over the humanitarian situation in the South Sudanese town of Malakal, which has recently been recaptured by government troops.andnbsp;
Vanina Maestracci, a UN spokeswoman, said on Wednesday that South Sudanese troops are now staging "door-to-door" raids in the oil town.
The UN mission "has received reports of the Sudan People's Liberation Army conducting house-to-house searches in Malakal," she said, adding, "The mission is investigating reports about the alleged extrajudicial killing of a pastor as well as killings of other civilians in the Malakal area in recent days."
On January 20, the South Sudanese army recaptured Malakal, the capital of Upper Nile state, from rebel forces. The town had switched hands several times since the outbreak of the fighting in South Sudan.
The fighting between President Salva Kiir’s troops, and forces loyal to opposition leader Riek Machar, erupted around Juba on December 15 last year.
The International Crisis Group said on January 9 that about 10,000 people had been killed in the violence.
“Given the intensity of fighting in over 30 different locations in the past three weeks, we are looking at a death toll approaching 10,000,” said Casie Copeland, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.
South Sudan gained independence in July 2011 after its people overwhelmingly voted in a referendum for a split from the North.
The government in Juba is grappling with rampant corruption, unrest and conflict in the deeply impoverished but oil-rich nation left devastated by decades of war.
MN/MHB/SS
