UN intensifies patrols at displacement camps amid rising violence in South Sudan

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan is now patrolling a displacement that is next to its peacekeeping base day and night as a result of rising tensions throughout the country.

The tens of thousands of people living at the camp are facing fresh threats with clashes between forces aligned with the two main parties to the peace agreement taking place in several locations across the country and political tensions soaring in the capital.

“In light of the current security developments, we recognize through our engagements with the communities and the displaced persons, that they have some concerns about their safety and their future. As United Nations police, we have engaged through the communities, actively patrolling, being present in the areas, in an aim to help them feel safer.” Christine Fossen, UNMISS Police Commissioner said.

With the signing of the Revitalized Peace Agreement and ceasefire in 2018, the security situation began to stabilize. In 2020, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) transitioned almost all the displacement sites, which had been under UN protection for seven years, into conventional camps under the responsibility of the Government.

But the country now appears to be back on the brink of war.