(CNN) December 14, 2009 — Violence in southern Sudan has escalated to its highest levels since a 2005 treaty ended a 21-year-long north-south civil war, a leading aid agency has warned…

Villages, rather than cattle camps, it said, were often attacked, with women and children the majority of victims. In these violent clashes, 1,248 people were killed, three times more than were wounded.

“The intensity of this year’s violence has severe consequences,” said Shelagh Woods, deputy head of mission for the group, also known as Doctors Without Borders.

“We treat injured women who lost entire families, children with legs destroyed by bullets, people who fled without time to bury loved ones. People do not feel safe and live in constant fear of attacks.”

In addition to deaths, the flare-up of violence has resulted in the serious injury and displacement of thousands from their homes, which has led to outbreaks of diseases, such as cholera and malaria. [...] Full article