UN peacekeepers facilitate peace dialogue in E. Equatoria State

April 13, 2024 (TORIT) – The UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said its peacekeepers facilitated a peace dialogue among feuding communities in the Kidepo Valley area of Eastern Equatoria State in response to seasonal intercommunal violence driven by cattle raids and competition over scarce resources.

The peace dialogue involved communities in Torit, Budi and Ikotos counties.

Key outcomes of the dialogue, it said, included agreements to hold perpetrators to account and introduce animal movement permits to prevent violence. These agreements are expected to reduce cattle rustling and revenge attacks, allowing for peaceful coexistence and the preservation of livelihoods.

According to UNMISS, the already unstable situation in the area has worsened in recent months with frequent road ambushes.

Meanwhile the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) expressed concerns about the rise in incidents hampering aid operations, after it reported more than 40 incidents affecting humanitarian access in South Sudan last month.

Fifteen of those, according to the UN agency, involved violence against humanitarian staff and impacted humanitarian assets.

Other challenges, OCHA said, include bureaucratic impediments and movement restrictions. These incidents were most prevalent in Upper Nile, Unity and Jonglei– with five of the six attacks on humanitarian convoys in March reported in Jonglei.

People fleeing Sudan continue to cross the border into South Sudan, it noted.

Since the start of Sudan’s conflict in mid-April last year, more than 636,000 men, women and children have arrived in neighbouring South Sudan, putting further strain on an already challenging humanitarian response in the young nation.

This year’s $1.8 billion humanitarian appeal for South Sudan is just over 19 per cent funded, a figure which translates to $345 million, OCHA said.

(ST)