AROUND 200 people, mostly women and children, have drowned after the boat they were using to flee fighting in South Sudan sank.
Tens of thousands have already crossed the Nile in boats to escape fighting around rebel-held Bor.
A government military spokesman said the front line continues to shift but it appears fighting is about 45 miles north of Juba, the country's capital.
In Ethiopia, where peace talks are taking place, a spokesman for the rebels said Ugandan helicopters and fighter jets are bombing rebel positions.
As control of certain regions in South Sudan has changed, tens of thousands of residents have fled their homes to escape fighting that often pits the Dinka ethnic group of president Salva Kiir against the Nuer group of Riek Machar, his former deputy who now commands renegade forces.
The violence has displaced 413,000 people, including more than 73,000 who sought refuge in neighbouring countries, says the UN.
Troops from neighbouring Uganda appear to be fighting on behalf of President Kiir.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article