News (Consolidated) - UNSOM

“We have a cause to fight. We don’t just enjoy being in the military, we have decided to take up arms to defend our children,” says Captain Rebecca Nya Piuudup in opposition-controlled Mogok in Greater Jonglei. Their children are very much the focus of the arguments presented to me when Rebecca and…

Wielding hoes, slashers and rakes, more than 40 women with infants strapped to their backs joined Rwandan peacekeepers serving with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) this week in a community-wide clean-up campaign in Ilihum, Eastern Equatoria. “The borehole and marketplace are…

A state of mind. An elusive dream. Hard-fought with many casualties. Agreed on. Waiting to happen. Partially achieved. Already here. The progress of peace, it seems, is a matter of perceptions. In South Sudan in 2019, peace appears to have come, or at least to be closer to consummation than it has…

Faced with muddy quagmires caused by intense flooding, Mongolian peacekeepers have found an innovative way to reach communities in need in the Bentiu region of South Sudan. Trading in their diesel-powered 4-wheel-drives for pedal-powered two-wheeled bicycles, the intrepid peacekeepers made their way…

A mobile court set up earlier this year by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to try crimes committed in protection of civilian sites in Malakal has concluded its fourth session. “It has given us the chance to prosecute suspects who have committed serious crimes in a fair and…

UNMISS Protection of Civilian (PoC) sites Update No. 249

Last week, more than 40 senior members of opposition forces in Diel, Central Upper Nile, gathered during a two-day workshop facilitated by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Their aim was to identify concrete actions to help eliminate conflict-related sexual violence in the area.…

Last week, nearly two dozen children were officially released by armed groups in South Sudan’s Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal region and handed over to the National Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration Commission (NDDRC). “My heart is full of joy and my face is shining brighter than the moon,”…

Some say that justice delayed is justice denied, but few would argue that it is better served cold than not at all. Just ask the citizens of Western Lakes, where a UN-supported mobile court is currently tackling a substantial backlog of criminal cases. “I have waited for ten months now. Finally…

Following growing concerns over human rights violations in Jonglei, community members were given the chance to voice their grievances during a civil-military dialogue organized by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). This Monday, representatives of civil society and armed forces in…

As the convoy of vehicles creeps along the tortuous, potholed and muddy roads, our brows furrow. Could they speak, they would have asked: “Shall we ever make it to the villages, or are weeks of meticulous planning potentially being washed down the imaginary drain?” “We have already informed the…

“Let’s say that I go into the forest to collect firewood and boys start touching me. I will know how to protect myself and get away from them safely,” says Therezone Steven, a Primary Seven pupil at Bentiu Primary School. Therezone is one of about 80 girls who have been learning how to block, punch…