Deadly fighting between armed groups in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state has routed thousands from their homes and triggered violence in displacement camps, a UN spokesman said on Friday.

“This latest fighting has led to the deaths of civilians, injuries and further displacement,” said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “Up to 5,000 civilians had fled to (Adidiang) last month, following the fighting between rival armed groups.” Several civilians fleeing the violence on boats and canoes reportedly drowned, Dujarric said.

UN peacekeepers raced to rescue drowning civilians and protect the affected population. He said the UN peacekeeping mission, known as UNMISS, reported that the latest attack also triggered intercommunal fighting among some internally displaced people of different groups within the UN site set up to protect civilians.

The spokesman said that the UN humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, Sara Beysolow Nyanti, reported that “the United Nations and our partners will continue supporting people in need to the best of their ability, but we need an immediate end to the fighting and a resolution to the conflict.” In Sudan, the UN special adviser on genocide prevention, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, and the special adviser on the responsibility to protect, George Okoth-Obbo, welcomed the recent visit by the prosecutor of the ICC, Karim Khan, who met with survivors and communities affected by violence.

Security experts say that governments in weak states such as Juba often face an armed opposition and have to decide whether to try to accommodate and contain that adversary or to try to consolidate power and monopolize violence by disarming it.