Juba: Around 30,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes as a result of armed raids in a South Sudanese region beset by ethnic clashes, the UN's emergency response agency reported on Thursday as foreign allies demanded an end to the violence.

According to a statement from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), armed men from the eastern region of Jonglei state—which is rife with gun violence attacked communities in the nearby Greater Pibor Administrative Area on December 24.

Following clashes in South Sudan's far north last month that caused thousands of residents of Upper Nile state to flee, there was violence.

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The suffering of people is enough. According to Sara Beysolow Nyanti, the UN humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan, "Civilians, especially those most vulnerable — women, children, the elderly and the disabled — bear the brunt of this protracted crisis."

According to OCHA, about 5,000 people have sought refuge in Pibor town, and the humanitarian effort has been severely taxed.

Villagers in Upper Nile state have sought refuge in swamps to escape the violence during the clashes, and there have been reports of civilians being raped, kidnapped, or killed.

In a joint statement released on Thursday, international partners including the regional IGAD group and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) expressed their "grave concern" over the rising level of violence.

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The need to "investigate and hold accountable all perpetrators of the conflict, including those who are instigating and inciting violence," they emphasised in their appeal to South Sudan's leaders.

Despite having significant oil reserves, South Sudan is one of the world's poorest nations, and its leadership has come under heavy fire for failing its citizens and inciting violence.

This month, Western countries including the United States and the European Union claimed South Sudan's leaders were to blame for the bloody conflict.

Since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, the world's newest country has gone from one crisis to another, including a brutal five-year civil war between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar, who have Killed about 400,000 people.

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Despite the signing of a peace deal in 2018, violence still flares up from time to time between the government and the opposition, and ethnic clashes between rival groups in lawless regions of the nation continue to cause terrible civilian casualties.