JUBA, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The number of displaced people in South Sudan increased to 1.97 million as of October, the UN humanitarian agency said on Monday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 32,113 displaced people were registered in Juba's two Protection of Civilians (PoC) sites, marking an 18 percent drop since the 2016 figures.

"Almost half of the decrease is due to the relocation of 3,379 people following inter-communal tensions in September," OCHA said in its latest report released in Juba.

Hundreds of thousands of people sought safety in UN bases after the breakout of conflict and widespread violence in South Sudan in 2013.

According to the UN agency, civilians were reported to have been displaced from Minyori following continued fighting around Yei, Central Equatoria.

"Of those displaced, more than 629 have been identified in Yei town. Partners provided humanitarian assistance to the IDPs, but food remains the main gap," it said.

OCHA said more than 3,000 displaced people in Boma State, Jonglei, were reported to be in need of humanitarian assistance in Labarap County.

"They were reportedly displaced by cattle raiding, in which 12 children were reportedly abducted during fighting," said the UN agency.

South Sudan descended into civil war in late 2013 and the conflict has created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world as some 4 million people are said to be displaced internally and externally since 2013.

A peace deal signed in August 2015 broke down in July 2016 following renewed violence in the capital Juba and quickly spread to previously peaceful areas.

Parties to the five-year conflict in September signed a new powering-deal in neighboring Ethiopia aimed at ending a civil war that had killed tens of thousands of people.