i'm travelling to a place that shows the terrifying power of climate change. i'm going to visit the north of my country, where hundreds of thousands of families have lost their homes in floods. too much rain. be careful. climate change, driven by fossil fuel use has increased the risk of flooding across the world. i've heard oil pollution in the area is making a bad situation even worse. the oil in the environment and in contact with the human

being is a silent killer. so with this flood right now, it is a disaster. you can see the flooding waters here. look at the water, and look at the calm this side. the only thing that's supporting those people is this long water dyke. keeps them dry and safe. i've managed to get rare access to the area to try to see what's really going on. this is part of unity state before the floods...

..and after. in 2019, extreme flooding began. at the floods peak in 2022, up to 70% of unity state was under water. more than 700,000 people have been affected across the country. tens of thousands moved into bentiu camp. today i'm meeting a village elder called nyakuma in camp. she's agreed to show us herflooded home. south sudan has always had some flooding in the wet season, but it's becoming more extreme every year. it's now the end of the dry

season, and the water is still here. the nuer people of this area have always kept cattle, but the floods have changed everything. 0k. we made it! yes! finally. this is nyakuma's house. without cattle and with crops under water, food is scarce. nyakuma and herfamily have no choice but to forage for food, like the edible roots of water lilies.

sunday, nyakuma and their daughter nyariak invite me to join their hard—won meal. the flood waters harbour diseases. nyakuma has recently recovered from malaria.

it's no wonder so many have moved into bentiu camp. it's run by the united nations, and houses 140,000 people displaced by war, and now by climate change. the floods have hit our country when we are very vulnerable. south sudan was founded only 13 years ago after decades of civil war. we hoped for peace, but fighting continues in many areas. the nation's poor and the government depends almost entirely on oil for income. the country's oil fields, including in unity state, can produce crude oil worth approximately £9 million sterling a day.

the bbc has spoken to david bojo leju, formerly a senior engineer for gpoc, an oil consortium in unity state. i got a job with the greater pioneer operating company, gpoc, as construction supervisor, in the five fields of unity state. nothing can go without us knowing in the oil field. gpoc runs the unity state oilfield. it's a joint venture between malaysian, indian and chinese oil companies, with south sudan's government owning 5%. david alleges that gpoc mismanaged its facilities, polluting the environment. he shared videos he recorded when he worked there. i was employed into an environment where there is an existing pollution. i had witnessed

wells spilling out. oil spill is a recurring situation. wait, wait, wait. stop _ he says gpoc�*s infrastructure is old and unsafe. oil spills from the wells itself, wellheads. oil spills from wells connecting other — pipes connecting other wells. oil spills from the main export pipeline that had happened in a big quantity in 2019 and 2020.

david left gpoc in 2020 after eight years. he says the pollution he saw was never cleared up and is more dangerous now than ever. so with this flood right now, it is a disaster. the whole of that contaminated soil with the hydrocarbon is going to be flooded all over unity state. i feel the effect of the oil in the environment, and in contact with the human being is a silent killer. what of the cattles that roam around the oil field, drinking water in those sources? where do we see the end result of hydrocarbon?

over 117,000 cows have died in unity state in the last two years, according to the state's minister of agriculture, who blames it on flooding and oil pollution. he called on central government to investigate. david thinks that livestock and people are likely to be affected by the oil spills he saw, which may have seeped into the groundwater. the water table is contaminated. if a sample of water is to be measured in several boreholes in unity state, definitely majority of the boreholes have unclean water. it's because the environment is polluted. some of the oil chemical seeped down. it is carried by the water, the flood and other seeped down into the ground.

david says there is another factor polluting the area. waste water from oil production that wasn't properly treated. oil is separated from water. 0il goes to the storage tank. the water separated has to be pumped back to the environment. what is received here, is water come, and they are different sections of the ponds. every day, in our morning meeting, in gpoc, there are reports of high content of oil in the produced water, which is not in conformity to international standard. and this water is injected back to the environment. the question is, where does water flow?

up to the people. up to the river, up to the water source, where people drink. up to ponds, where people catch fish, up to ponds where people swim. who knows the amount of hydrocarbon in those water? to find out more about the impact of the oil pollution on communities, i'm on my way to roriak, a settlement 20km north of bentiu, and right in the heart of the oil fields.

i meet more families living near the oilfacilities. the mothers say they want to stay here because there is a school nearby.

a german ngo, sign of hope, conducted two peer—reviewed studies of communities living near oilfields in unity state. they found high sulphate content in the water and heavy metals in human hairsamples. these are indicators of oil pollution and could increase the risk of birth defects. the n60 told the bbc that government officials said their work went against government interests. under pressure, they withdrew their staff because of security concerns. off—camera, someone shows me a picture of a baby with birth defects who died here.

what the chief tells me about the birth defects is really worrying, and i need to find out more. so i go to visit the hospital in bentiu. the doctor takes me to meet a mother and her newborn baby.

the hospital doesn't have the facilities to do genetic tests, and it's rarely possible to know for certain the cause of any genetic abnormality in a child. but the doctor thinks pollution might be a factor.

outside the ward, the doctor tells me he has seen many similar cases. he tells me he's been trying to keep track of cases of babies born with birth defects. he wants the government to keep a proper register of babies with genetic problems and investigate the causes.

what pains me much is the local that stay around, the effect that the community complain about, they are birth defects. david says he challenged his managers, but he says they didn't try to clean up the oil—polluted soil. merely told him to contain and hide the problem. contaminate soil with the pure oil. they are black, as you see. is totally black. because it is created at the roadside, the company say we have to take away because it's giving a very bad image to the company.

so the soil, huge mountain of soil here we are transporting and put here, hidden here in this location. there is no treatment plan for soil. there is nothing called treating soil in unity state. no. david says when the extreme rainfall started in 2019, they tried and failed to keep the pollution from getting into the flood water. the whole area is watery, and this soil mix with the water, the hydrocarbon seep to the water, and this water is spread all over unity. village elder nyakuma and herfamily have had to leave their village to stay

in her brother's hut near the camp. they've come because nyakuma is sick. they suspect her malaria is back.

she coughs it's terrible outside. it's quite terrible. iran to my — to my container. my mind is still busy about people outside there. how are they managing, especially nyakuma? she's been sick, and the rain is just really, really strong. at least the container is keeping me safe. but thousands of displaced persons outside there, they are just stuck under their poor shelter.

and the water level also is rising. coming all the way this side, interacting with the people, especially women and children. it's a different world. it's catastrophic. david and his family have been forced into exile in sweden. in 2020, david shared his evidence of pollution with south sudanese lawyers who wanted to take legal action over oil pollution in unity state. i was contacted by someone who was preparing to sue the government because of this environmental pollution. because of the pain that i have for a long period of time and what i see happening

in the oil field affecting the people and the environment, i had to come in to provide the evidence to the court. i was not against the government, so i was sure i would be protected as a witness. but one day a flight was sent when i was in the oilfield in unity state without my notice. a security personnel, who is also working in the oil field, told me, "pack your bag. you are to go tojuba." the government needs me to answer questions about the oil case. the security personnel who were near me hit my head with a pistol and forced me to sign this document without saying anything. the lawyers have not pursued the case for pollution

against the government. killings is not something new in south sudan. it is daily. do you think it would be very difficult for me to be disappeared? my life can easily be disappeared. the government feel anyone talk about the oil is touching the heart of the government. i had to seek for asylum, and i was given an asylum to sweden. my spirit, all is tied back home and i miss it so much. nyakuma has recovered from her bout of malaria.

she is determined to go home as soon as she is strong enough. i'm back to juba. the next plan is to meet the first deputy speaker for the council of states, the honourable mary ayen, and she will tell me more about the facts that are happening in the northern part of the country. mary ayen is a senior politician from the ruling party from an oil—producing area. she's been raising concerns about children with birth defects with central government and thinks there could be many more cases.

i've seen myself, my own relatives, giving birth to children born with deformities. i know that also in most of the villages, it's only areas that are around hospital where those cases are reported, but most cases are not reported. this is one child. this is the other one. they are twins. so they were born in pariang hospital. actually, that was last april. there are so many cases, but this year, all of them died, except this one. this child is still alive. it was born in pamir, in ruweng. mary says after mounting pressure the government launched an environmental audit last year. so samples from the human blood, from their hair, from soil, from water, were taken and sent to laboratories. and when it was launched, the government declared

that the results will come out in 90 days, and i think that was last september. in august 2024, petronas, part of the gpoc oil consortium in unity state, announced it was pulling out of south sudan. the government is blocking it from selling its assets, saying they are legally obliged to pay for an environmental clean—up first. meanwhile, the government still has not released any environmental audits of the area. the government have said they will produce an audit report in one year. where has the one year ended? why are they delaying in publishing the audit report? why? and time will come,

all these wells will dry off. chinese will leave. india will leave. petronas has left. what have they left with, with south sudanese now? a cry. money come, money go, but life, life is more precious. the environment will never come and go again. the environment is there, permanent. i feel like the situation in unity state is a nightmare i can't forget. an environmental crisis of climate change and pollution. the people there don't have real information. the government hasn't yet released an environmental audit. there is no register of birth defects. they are left with so many questions, but no answers,

and nowhere else to go.

live from london. this is bbc news. israel carries out air strikes on yemen — the international airport in the capital sana'a is among the targets.

russia is accused of shooting down a plane over kazakhstan yesterday — killing 38 people. the kremlin says it's wrong to speculate on what happened. ceremonies are held to mark the twentieth anniversary of the indian ocean earthquake and tsunami. and — gavin and stacey win the christmas day tv ratings battle here in the uk — with over 12 million people tuning in to see whether smithy accepted nessa's proposal. israel has been carrying out air strikes across yemen, including the international airport in the capital sanaa. the israeli military says it has been targeting the houthis, who are a rebel group backed by iran. houthi rebels say that three people have been killed in the strikes. houthi fighters in yemen have targeted israel and ships in the red sea and the gulf of aden in solidaity with palestinians in gaza.

in central gaza, health officials say five journalists