UNITED NATIONS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The UN Refugee Agency ( UNHCR) has reported that refugees from regions on the Sudan-South Sudan border facing conflict are continuing to move into surrounding nations, numbering over 202,000, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said here Wednesday.
"The influx of Sudanese refugees into South Sudan continues, with more than 202,000 refugees from Blue Nile and South Kordofan now in camps in South Sudan and Ethiopia, according to the UN Refugee Agency," said Nesirky.
Both regions, located in Sudan on the border with South Sudan, have experienced fighting between those loyal to Khartoum and those loyal to the south, causing civilians to flee.
"In South Kordofan, the World Food Program (WFP) continues to distribute food in government-held areas, including Talodi, Gadir and El Leri," Nesirky said. "A recent joint assessment by WFP and the Humanitarian Aid Commission identified some 110,000 people in need of assistance."
Nesirky noted that in other cases displaced people are returning to their homes.
"In Abyei, nearly 9,000 people have returned to areas north of the Bahr el Arab/Kiir River -- up from 7,000 people reported last week, according to the UN Interim Security Force in Abyei(UNISFA)," he said.
Abyei is a contested border region between Sudan and South Sudan.
Nesirky added that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that more than 400,000 people of South Sudanese origin have returned to South Sudan from Sudan since October 2010.
South Sudan gained its independence from Khartoum and became a separate country in July 2011. However, South Sudan and Sudan have yet to settle several outstanding issues existing between them.
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