More than 60,000 South Sudanese refugees flee violence

South Sudan: According to United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, more than 60,000 people have fled South Sudan since violence escalated in the last three weeks.

In a briefing by UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming, she said;

"They brought to us very disturbing reports, armed groups operating on roads to Uganda are preventing people from fleeing,"

"Armed groups are looting villages, murdering civilians and forcibly recruiting young men and boys into their ranks."

The agency added that the majority of refugees headed to neighbouring Uganda, doubling the flow over that border over the last 10 days, and the rest to Sudan and Kenya.