LONDON, ENGLAND (ANS) -- As South Sudan marks its first anniversary today (Monday July 9), Samaritan's Purse UK is launching an urgent appeal to provide vital food and water supplies for 170,000 refugees who are facing a full blown emergency.

Samaritan's Purse staff at the child nutrition clinic

Over the past year continued bombing has forced a mass exodus of refugees to flee the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile State in Sudan, leaving them trapped across the border, in South Sudan, between violence and starvation.

In response Samaritan's Purse, one of the few humanitarian agencies to be there right from the start of this crisis meeting critical needs, says the clock is ticking as the charity appeals for help to provide desperately needed food and water to save lives.

"The plight of the refugees is getting worse day by day and is slipping from crisis to disaster. We're hearing of people dying of dehydration and starvation because of food and water shortages," said Samaritan's Purse UK Executive Director, Simon Barrington.

He added: "The infrastructure is fragile, the country is fragile, the financial situation is fragile and the food situation for the whole of the country is fragile. So we're appealing for everyone to help us save lives while there's still time."

YouTube Video: A view from refugee camps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k6pySJEWAw - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k6pySJEWAw

With the onset of the rainy season now severely limiting access by road to these camps, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has described the situation as "among the most critical.anywhere."

Another child being helped by Samaritan's Purse at the Yida refugee camp

Speaking from the Yida refugee camp David Phillips, Samaritan's Purse Country Director for South Sudan said: "The thing that really breaks our hearts is that the situation hasn't changed in the Nuba mountains where these people are fleeing from. They're still being persecuted and bombed by their own government. There's still no humanitarian access into that place and so the people who are fleeing to find safety in the refugee camps are literally arriving like walking skeletons."

He added: "They have to immediately be taken into our therapeutic feeding programmes, or given emergency food rations in order to try to sustain them. So we're seeing an increase of the need here in a very drastic way with new arrivals of up to 700 refugees a day in immediate need of assistance."

Following Simon Barrington's recent trip to South Sudan, where he saw first hand the desperate situation in these refugee camps, he said: "It's always challenging when you see your fellow human beings suffering, knowing that suffering is preventable and yet actions aren't being taken to prevent this."

Through this appeal Samaritan's Purse UK plans to provide equipment to drill boreholes for life-giving clean water, build latrines to reduce the spread of deadly diseases and send in food supplies to replenish dwindling stocks.

"So I'd ask people to act now to help us get water and food to the neediest of people despite the rainy season and the difficulty of access because of the state of the roads. Our prayer is that no one would die unnecessarily during this time period," concluded Simon Barrington.

To find out more go to: http://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/sudan-crisis - www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/sudan-crisis

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