 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Andrew Harding explains why the Nile is such an important boundary for those fleeing the fighting 
 
 More than 200 civilians in South Sudan have drowned in a Nile ferry accident while fleeing fighting in the town of Malakal, an army spokesman has said. "There is heavy fighting in Malakal," army spokesman Philip Aguer said, dismissing rebel claims they had taken control of the town. Aguer, in a statement he has repeated for over a week, said that the army was "still marching on Bor". The East African regional bloc IGAD has been brokering peace talks in neighbouring Ethiopia, although with still little sign of a hoped-for ceasefire agreement. South Sudan has been gripped by violence since December 15, when clashes broke out between army units loyal to South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and those supporting ex-vice president Riek Machar. According to the United Nations, about 400,000 civilians have fled their homes over the past month, many of them to escape a wave of ethnic violence between members of Kiir's Dinka people -- the country's largest group -- and Machar's Nuer community. South Sudan's military battled rebels in the streets of the key northern oil town of Malakal Wednesday, the army said, as conflict in the world's newest nation entered its second month.
– Some 400,000 people have now fled South Sudan amid weeks of fighting, the UN says; at least 200 drowned on a ferry trying to escape. "The reports we have are of between 200 to 300 people, including women and children. The boat was overloaded," an army rep tells AFP. He says the incident occurred today, while other reports indicate it was overnight Sunday. "They all drowned." He said they were fleeing Upper Nile state capital Malakal, which has been under both rebel and government control; it’s situated near the state’s oil fields. The rebels have launched a new attack on the area, where some 19,000 people have sought shelter at a peacekeeping base, a UN spokesman says. Malakal, the BBC notes, sits near the White Nile, which thousands of civilians have tried to cross in a bid to escape. Many, however, can’t afford a boat ride; one refugee tells the BBC she had to borrow $66 to get across. A recent estimate puts the death toll of the conflict at 10,000.