Attacks on aid staff hinder work in south Sudan

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - At least 25 attacks on aid workers in south Sudan's capital Juba in the past two months have forced staff to relocate and is hindering development in the region recovering from Africa's longest civil war, aid officials said on Friday.

A 2005 north-south peace deal attracted thousands of aid workers and millions of dollars of donor money to rebuild the south after the war that raged on and off since 1955.

With a myriad of armed men running around the south -- militias, unpaid southern army soldiers, disgruntled armed civilians -- the foreign workers in tiny Juba town have become targets for armed robbery and looting.

"(This week) every night we were targeted ... Some NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) have already relocated their staff," said Claire Debard, from Handicap International who is also the NGO security pointman in Juba.

U.N. officials said there had been at least 25 attacks on Sudanese, international aid agencies and foreign-owned hotels where many of them live in the past two months.

"They are blatantly targeting U.N. and NGO compounds," one U.N. official who requested anonymity said, adding that the gangs of between six to 10 armed men were often in army uniform.

South Sudan's police spokesman Machar Akau told Reuters he was aware of 15 incidents and said local residents were equally at risk. "It is happening to all people," he said.

One northern Sudanese trader was shot dead, U.N. sources said, the only known fatality. The police force is still being reorganized and is too small to cover the town, Akau said.

"It is not one gang but a network of criminals, it is organized. (It is) very new, it was not happening before," Akau said, adding that the south's fluid borders may have allowed criminals from neighboring countries to enter.

He said the thieves could be former militia soldiers who have not been integrated into the south's army.

Another police official, David Okwier Akway, said six men were arrested last week in connection with burglaries. Residents are typically forced to lie down at gunpoint while others loot.

"Work has come to a halt," said Kashinath Bhoosnurmath, the deputy country director of Save the Children UK. Non-essential staff have been relocated after two of the agency's guesthouses were attacked on the same night, he said.

"If this continues then we will have to reduce staff further to a minimum," Bhoosnurmath added.

Debard said barbed wire and other security measures were being used, creating a barrier between them and the people they are trying to help.

"Many NGO staff are already spending their time doing security when they should be managing projects," she added.

Around 2 million people were killed in the north-south conflict, separate from violence in Sudan's western Darfur region.

(Editing by Opheera McDoom)

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