( CNN ) -- Last July , the world celebrated the birth of its newest nation as South Sudan officially separated from the north . It was hoped then that after decades of bloodshed , the people of of both nations would finally know peace . But just a few months later , refugee camps are filling to the brim as fighting in the border states of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile has intensified and displaced more than 400,000 people . They arrive at the camps in trucks , on camels and even by foot , said Jean-Pierre Amigo , a field coordinator with Medicins Sans Frontieres ( MSF ) or Doctors Without Borders . `` The number of people is increasing every day , '' Amigo said . Fighting erupted between Sudan 's army and South Sudan rebels in Southern Kordofan even before independence was formalized . The violence spread to Blue Nile in September . The Enough Project , which works to expose genocide and crimes against humanity , recently documented killings and rape by Sudanese forces in Blue Nile . `` The civilian toll from an indiscriminate aerial bombardment campaign is rising , '' said a field dispatch from the Enough Project . The United Nations has appealed for money to help civilians caught in the violence . `` We are looking at a deteriorating humanitarian situation in the areas out of which the refugees in neighboring South Sudan and Ethiopia have fled , '' Peter de Clercq , the United Nations ' acting humanitarian coordinator in Sudan , said this month . That in addition to the crisis in the Darfur region -- where war broke out in 2003 and 3.75 million people still need help -- qualifies Sudan as one of the world 's largest humanitarian crises , according to the United Nations . The world body is asking for $ 1.06 billion to help 4.2 million people in 2012 . Amigo of MSF is witnessing firsthand the human suffering caused by protracted conflict . The medical charity has ratcheted up efforts in the area to deal with a full-scale emergency . Amigo said among the new arrivals at Alfuj refugee camp was a 70-year-old woman who was brought in a donkey cart . She had traveled days with six bullet wounds in her back . Half of one her hands was gone . Many of the people seeking refuge at Alfuj are suffering from respiratory disease , malaria and malnutrition , Amigo said . They told MSF they had been on the move since September , at first hiding in wooded areas near their crops but eventually fleeing their homes altogether . At Alfuj , mothers are delivering babies under trees , Amigo said . MSF has set up a 24-hour maternity ward . No one here has a mosquito net . They share drinking holes with cattle . Or women and girls wait for up to 12 hours to fill a plastic can from a water pump . MSF installed a massive water bladder to bring some relief . MSF has also been feeding children high-nutrition biscuits . Without any other aid agency at Alfuj , it has been difficult for the MSF staff , Amigo said . `` As a medical organization , we can not help everyone there , '' Amigo said . `` We can not meet all the needs . '' Earlier this month , the United Nations refugee agency airlifted relief supplies from neighboring Kenya . The C-130 Hercules transport planes carried plastic sheets and rolls , sleeping mats , blankets , mosquito nets , buckets , jerry cans and kitchen sets . `` These supplies are desperately needed , '' said Vivian Tan , spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in the South Sudan capital , Juba . `` Families often arrive here exhausted , hungry , cold or sick . We have already distributed whatever we had on the ground , including aid from Juba and Malakal . Our local warehouse is almost empty now . '' But few of those supplies have reached Alfuj , where access is difficult because of bad road conditions . South Sudan is independent now , Amigo said , but not free from crisis . The MSF staff saw 400 malnourished children in one day at Alfuj . There is no doubt in Amigo 's mind that they were addressing an acute emergency .
Fighting in two border states has intensified and displaced thousands . Many are arriving at refugee camps where malnutrition and disease are rampant . A Doctors Without Borders staffer says the charity is addressing an acute emergency . South Sudan became gained independence last July .