More than a million refugees have left South Sudan, UN says

AWEIL, South Sudan -- More than one million refugees have fled South Sudan's ongoing civil war, overwhelming aid agencies and creating one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.

The United Nations said Friday that South Sudan joins Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia as countries that have produced over one million refugees.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, but civil war erupted two years later and tens of thousands have been killed. New fighting in July created a surge of more than 185,000 refugees. Most people fleeing are women and children.

Neighboring Uganda hosts the highest number of South Sudanese refugees, and 20,000 have arrived in the past week due to continued clashes in the southern part of the country.

The U.N. says another 1.6 million people are displaced inside South Sudan.