The UN mission in South Sudan says it is being denied enough access to many parts of the country.

Thousands of internally displaced people are in UN protection of Civilian sites.

The UN says it needs more access for aid agencies to deliver assistance and for the rights division to monitor the situation.

“We have difficulties of access throughout the country. Between Juba and Bentiu, there are tens of checkpoints if you need convoys to go,” UNMISS spokesperson Ariane Quentier told the media today.

She said the access would l also enable the mission to protect civilians.

“Access is something we have requested for many many reasons, to be able to protect the civilians, to be able to document human rights [abuse].”

The government and the SPLM in Opposition are yet to comment.

Since December 2013, the conflict has devastated the lives of millions of South Sudanese and displaced more than 2.3 million people.

About 1.69 million of them have been displaced internally in South Sudan and over 648,000 are refugees in neighboring countries.

The UN and humanitarian groups say about 5.1 million people need aid this year.