South Sudan: Those Displaced Return After Fleeing Violence

The sun sets on the docking place in Pajiek village, in Jonglei state, South Sudan

Africa News and AP

Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria State following weeks of violence in the town of Tambura and its surrounding areas, according to a United Nations mission in the country.

The mission, known as the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), said on Friday that "calm" had returned to the area following the violence which saw many of those displaced talking shelter near a temporary UNMISS base.

"We have been here in the bush for about two weeks now," Monica Zeferina, who was displaced from the Tambura area, told peacekeepers as they patrolled on Friday.

"We don’t know the armed men killing our people... We cannot move because we don’t have any means of transport to carry our children to a safer area. It’s difficult for us.”

Colonel Shams Sittique, a UNMISS Senior Military Observer, said the mission was continuing to monitor the situation and trying to bring the violence "under control."

Meanwhile, in South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, political parties and civil society organizations in the region agreed an "action plan" with the aim of holding free and fair elections in two years time.

UNMISS hosted the three-day Political Parties’ Forum in the city of Aweil.

Eight political parties and seven civil society groups attended the forum where officials signed a plan which aimed to create "an inclusive, secure and participatory civic and political space" ahead of the planned vote in 2026

“An open civic and political space is more critical than ever, to allow civic and the political actors to freely assemble, register their parties, have equal access to media for campaigning and promoting their agendas, opportunities to hold rallies, meetings and other campaigning activities without obstruction," Guang Cong, UNMISS Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, said as he attended the event.

In September the government in South Sudan postponed elections scheduled for December of 2024 for two years citing the need to complete processes such as a census, the drafting of a permanent constitution and the registration of political parties.

The new election date is set for December 22, 2026.

It is the second time the country, which gained independence in 2011, postponed elections and extended a transitional period that started in February 2020.