Mysterious disease kills 14 in eastern Aweil, many families flee

Adut Adhot village in Walgat Payam, Awir Don district, Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, has been partially evacuated after 14 family members died of an unknown illness in two weeks.

Local residents said the first incident occurred around July 30, when four family members died. Another similar incident took away On August 15, nine members of the same family Another incident occurred on August 18.

Awan Awan, a villager, told Radio Tamazuj on Monday morning that one person was killed on Sunday, confirming that some families had evacuated to other nearby communities.

Although the government announced that it had taken steps to verify and control the disease, Awan accused the government of not doing enough to get to the bottom of the mysterious health issue.

“Yesterday (Sunday), one of our sons died due to the same reason. The situation is still deteriorating and so far, the government, especially the Ministry of Health, has not sent a delegation to the area to investigate the cause of death,” he lamented.

“We feel uncomfortable and some people have fled the area because the plague is still going on,” Awan said.

Another villager, Diing Ngong, told the broadcaster that people were taking shelter in churches and other surrounding areas. He mentioned that a road connecting Adut Adhot and Malualkon had been blocked because of claims that people using the road could die when reaching their final destination.

“There has been internal displacement in the village of Adut Adhot as they have been relocated to the church and nearby neighbourhoods,” he explained.

“The roads leading to Malurkon and Walawal were also blocked as people using these roads were reportedly likely to die instantly when they reach their final destination,” he claimed.

Awidong County Governor Diing Aher Ngong called on everyone to remain calm about the dreaded disease and said the government was investigating.

“It’s a horrible disease and no one person is to blame for it. Yes, people are panicking for their lives and no one wants to be around that family,” he said.