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| - The United Nations on Monday condemned the murder of another humanitarian worker in South Sudan and urged the authorities to step up efforts to protect aid teams. Gunmen ambushed a team from Plan International, a British-headquartered charity, on October 29 as they were returning to Pibor town, in an eastern region plagued by armed conflict, flooding and hunger. One aid worker was shot dead on the spot and another suffered a serious gunshot injury, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement. The team had been delivering nutritional relief to women and children but the programme has now been suspended. "I strongly condemn this attack and the killing of yet another humanitarian worker," said Alain Noudehou, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan. "I call once again for authorities and communities at all levels to guarantee the safety and security of aid workers and the people they serve. The perpetrators of this violent act must be brought to justice and be held accountable." South Sudan is often described as the most dangerous place in the world to be an aid worker. This latest killing follows an uptick in attacks on humanitarian workers and aid convoys in other parts of the country. OCHA says eight humanitarian workers have been killed in South Sudan this year alone. A statement issued in October by the United States, Britain, the European Union and other foreign missions condemning the violence put the toll at 14. Last month, nearly 30 aid workers were evacuated from Renk, in the country's far north, to the protection of UN peacekeepers after a mob torched a warehouse belonging to the Swiss-headquartered charity Medair and demanded all relief groups leave the area. "The violence and the targeting of humanitarian actors must stop," Noudehou said. South Sudan achieved statehood in 2011 after a decades-long war of independence from Sudan, its larger, Muslim-majority neighbour to the north. But the fighting turned inward in 2013 and South Sudan was engulfed in a civil war that left nearly 400,000 people dead. A ceasefire largely paused the bloodshed in September 2018, and a unity government took power in Juba earlier this year, but the country is still wracked by conflict and lawlessness. np/ri
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