South Sudan was the most violent country to deliver aid in 2017 for the third consecutive year, a fresh report by the Aid Worker Security Database said.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2018) South Sudan was the most violent country to deliver aid in 2017 for the third consecutive year, a fresh report by the Aid Worker Security Database said.
The report revealed that last year 46 of a total of 158 recorded incidents of violence against aid staff took place in South Sudan, with the country ranking higher than Syria with 31 registered attacks and Afghanistan with 15 incidents. South Sudan also topped the ranking in 2016 and 2015.
"The violence in South Sudan continued to escalate, with record numbers of aid workers killed by gunfire in addition to a rise in aid worker kidnappings. Prior to 2016, kidnappings were relatively rare in South Sudan. The sharp increase in 2016 and continuing through 2018 suggests a troubling trend of armed groups using this tactic to assert control over aid operations," the report read.
According to the database, the overall number of attacks did not change significantly in 2017, as compared to the 2016 numbers, but the fatal incidents rose by 23 percent.
"The 139 aid workers killed in 2017 is the second highest recorded annual death toll, following 2013 (156)," the report specified.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan following a referendum in 2011, in which majority of the voters supported the move. In 2013, a civil war erupted in the country over an ethnic conflict among the country's officials. The parties to the conflict agreed to a ceasefire in June and signed a peace deal earlier in the month.
