Tens of thousands of people who have fled tribal violence in a remote area of South Sudan are in desperate need of food, the United Nations said on Saturday. South Sudan became Africa's newest nation in July after a referendum agreed under a 2005 peace deal with Khartoum that ended decades of civil war.
But the government in Juba has been struggling to assert its authority over a country roughly the size of France and end tribal and rebel violence that killed thousands last year. Fighting broke out last week between the Lou Nuer tribe and the rival Murle tribe in a remote area of the state of Jonglei. Some 6,000 armed Lou Nuer members attacked the main Murle town of Pibor on Monday.