An orphan’s plea for peace in Jonglei
A teenage boy who lost his mother in an attack on the payam of Duk Padiet earlier this year called on all residents of Jonglei State to surrender their arms to government forces. Agang Mathau's mother Nyandom Dau was among the 157 victims who perished in a 16 January raid by armed men believed to…
Setting the ball rolling
In a nation where cultural practices strongly discourage women from entering male-dominated spheres of life, a female football team is rare. But a recent upsurge of female football teams in the international arena, like the indomitable Falcons of Nigeria and Black Queens of Ghana, has attracted…
Mama Zahra: Whetting Juba appetites
When Rose Pita began cooking in the backyard of her home in the South Sudanese capital of Juba 19 years ago, she never imagined becoming a role model for aspiring restaurateurs. Popularly known as Mama Zahra, the 44-year-old woman has built her once meagre business up into two large restaurants in…
UNMISS increasing concern over violence in Jonglei State
31 August - The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is increasingly concerned by recent violence in Jonglei state that threatens the important gains made this year in restoring peace and security. UNMISS is particularly concerned by the apparent emergence in Jonglei of an armed insurgency…
A long road for women
"Twenty-five per cent, oyee!" blasted apopular tune by South Sudanese singer Gordon Kong at recent independence anniversary celebrations in Aweil. The women singing and dancing in theNorthern Bahr El-Ghazal state capital's Freedom Square had a victory to celebrate -- the provision requiring that at…
SPLA striving to work with communities
3 September 2012 - The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) had assisted Western Bahr El-Ghazal (WBEG) with education, medical care and mine clearing, an SPLA officer said today in Wau. "In WBEG, the SPLA provide teachers for three schools (and) operate military hospitals that are open to the…
Senior UNMISS official visits Jonglei State
4 September 2012 - Toby Lanzer, UNMISS Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, meeting with Jonglei State Governor Kuol Manyang Juuk in Pibor. The governor said the state was generally stable, although poor roads had hampered efforts to consolidate peace.
Prisoners need rehabilitation, officials say
5 September 2012 - Prisons were moving away from punishment to rehabilitation of detainees, a top official in South Sudan's prison service said today in Juba. Speaking at a one-day workshop, Abel Makoi Wol, director general of the National Prisons Service of South Sudan, told participants that…
UNMISS trains SSNPS in force tactics
7 September 2012 - UN Police holding a five-day course on the use of force for 25 South Sudan National Police Service officers in Malakal, Upper Nile State, which ended today.
UNMISS supports tree-planting project in Warrap
11 September 2012 – Fergus Boyle, UNMISS Warrap State Coordinator, planting a tree in Kuajok at the launch of the state government's campaign to plant one million trees in the state by December 2014.
From battlefield to breadbasket
In the thick forests of South Sudan's Western Bahr El-Ghazal State lies a small village called Getty, spread over fertile swathes of land that had once served as battlefields. Majok Madut has been cultivating this terrain for two years, toiling steadily alongside his family, until the day his spade…