Restarting oil wells in South Sudan has uncertain health effects

South Sudan plans to restart oil wells shut down after they were damaged by rebels five years ago.

The oil wells have been leaking and contaminating local groundwater and the government hopes that repairing and restarting the oil wells will stop the contamination and is looking to the oil companies to address the needs of the locals.

But locals and environmentalists are worried that the companies are not interested in their concerns and that restarting production may lead to an even more toxic environment.

Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan reports.