High crime rate hits UN camp in S. Sudan, aid workers say

July 26, 2017 (BENTIU) – The protection of civilians sites (PoCs) in South Sudan’s Unity state town of Bentiu are currently facing high rates of crime, a number of aid workers told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday.

“It is a frequent attack to humanitarians’ workers and after every night, you hear that people have been put at gun point. It is something beyond their capacity and uncontrollable,” she said.

Another aid worker, speaking to Sudan Tribune on condition of anonymity, said the attackers have mainly been targeting those working with the UN and other international organizations.

The aid worker said local security personnel be deployed around the PoCs to work in coordination with UN peacekeepers to end attacks.

If the UN could give capacity to local volunteer security officers within the community, the high crimes rates in the area would have come to an end, stressed the aid worker.

Last month, UN peacekeepers rescued five people from being kidnapped by groups of people coming from outside the camp.

At least 20 civilians were wounded after clashes erupted between a group of youth currently residing within the UN camp in Bentiu town.

The protections of civilians’ site in Bentiu hosts about 114,000 residents who have sought safety since the outbreak of the conflict in mid-December 2013.

(ST)