All hell breaking out across #Juba pic.twitter.com/rpgTh4XxQE — Paul Cruickshank (@pmcruickshank) July 8, 2016 Gunshots first started ringing out across the city on Friday.

“The trucks that supply everyone with water have stopped running”

I don’t dare go out. Artillery shells landed on a house a few houses from ours. My uncle and I have stayed indoors since Friday, leaving only to buy what little bread was left at the neighbourhood store this weekend. The store is now closed. We didn’t have any food stocked, because we didn’t see this coming. We’re eating two little breads each per day, and we’re getting very hungry.



National independence day holiday today in #Juba #SouthSudan, but..... pic.twitter.com/Ns4rRV798D — Paul Cruickshank (@pmcruickshank) July 11, 2016 The sound of gunfire can be heard throughout this video, filmed by a UN officer.

There’s no more water, either, since in Juba, water is delivered by trucks, and they’ve stopped coming. Luckily, my uncle and I had some stocks of water, but many of our neighbors didn’t, so we’re sharing with them. We’ll soon be out of water. [Editor’s Note: it was 28 degrees Celsius in Juba on Monday.]



If this goes on for a few more days, I honestly don’t know how we will survive. We’re just praying that this will calm down.



#Women at antenatal clinic in #Juba Teaching Hospital taking cover from heavy shelling in town. #SouthSudan pic.twitter.com/4uQLEC7FQS — UNFPA South Sudan (@UNFPASouthSudan) July 11, 2016

At least we’re not in the middle of the fighting. Some of my friends who are still in the Jebel area have been hiding under their beds since Friday. And we’ve seen many people flee from Jebel on foot, running around, looking for shelter in mosques and churches. Others have gone to the UN camps, but even those are not safe – they’ve come under fire, as well.



Displaced people streaming into the Tomping UN camp on the outskirts of Juba.

All the roads are closed now, so nobody can leave the region. And all flights are suspended. We’re stuck. No place is safe, since the fighting is constantly moving. The international community needs to intervene!

“I’ve tried looking for food at five hotels, but no luck”

We didn’t anticipate all this, so we’re running out of food. We have stayed inside since Friday, but I had to venture out in my car this morning [Monday] to go looking for something to eat. I went to areas of the city where there is no fighting, but there’s no food anywhere. All the markets are closed. I drove by a bakery where there was a huge queue of people just waiting; I didn’t even stop to bother and ask. There were soldiers there, too, but I don’t know if they were trying to restore order or queuing for bread as well.



Instead, I decided to try some hotels, since they stock food. But I’ve been to five of them, and they either have run out of food or are keeping the little food for they have for their guests. Some hotels are completely inaccessible, being heavily guarded; I suspect senior government officials must have been accommodated there…



Since Friday, the capital of South Sudan has been paralyzed by heavy fighting between troops loyal to the president Salva Kiir, and those who support the vice president Riek Machar. Our Observers in Juba tell us that the city’s population is suffering greatly, with hundreds displaced and many more shuttered in their homes and running out of food and water.The two rival factions had concluded a peace deal last August. Under this agreement, they were supposed to rapidly integrate their forces, but the implementation process was going more slowly than expected before fighting broke out between rival soldiers on Friday. Both leaders have publicly called for calm , to no avail.At least 300 people have been reported killed in these clashes, including many civilians and at least two Chinese peacekeepers. The first Observer in Juba to whom we reached out to by email, a local NGO worker, wrote back: “I am unable to call you on the phone right now, for fear that it may draw dangerous attention. There is shooting outside where I am – I am lying on the floor in my room. There are two main fears at the moment: 1. Bombs or shells from tanks may fall on our roof. 2. Soldiers force their way into our compound and murder us.”This Observer was particularly close to fighting in the city’s southwestern suburb of Jebel. We managed to reach others who were further from the fighting and able to speak at more length.Bashir Ahmed is a civil rights activist, currently staying indoors at him home in central Juba.Chol Elijah is a businessman who lives in the Atlabara neighbourhood with his wife.Both Observers agreed that, while there were tensions between the two armies, nobody saw this coming. “There’s no sense in it,” says Ahmed. “Our people have suffered so much already; South Sudan only recently got its independence from Sudan [in 2011, after two years of war]. We don’t need another war!