Rumbek Returns to Normalcy as UNMISS Secures Critical Facilities (Video)

(RUMBEK, LAKES STATE) – United Nations peacekeepers have stepped up patrols in Rumbek, the capital of South Sudan’s Lakes State, following two days of deadly intercommunal clashes that left at least 60 people dead and displaced about 500 families.

Shops have reopened and residents are resuming their daily activities, but memories of the fighting remain fresh in people’s minds.

“The shooting was massive. It was just too much for all of us. And some of us who had never heard those gunshots, which are big ones, it was really worrying. Some of us went under our beds. We saw people running with their children to save them from the people who are fighting,” one resident said.

State authorities said the violence on 8th and 9th October temporarily displaced about 500 families and left 78 wounded . Seventeen humanitarian workers had also been trapped north of the town.

It took the intervention of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to protect civilians and evacuate the trapped workers. Peacekeepers secured critical facilities such as hospitals, the airport and humanitarian compounds.

“We got information that the hospital, the wounded persons, those who are admitted in the hospital, they will be attacked. So with the order from sector headquarters, we mobilised our troops immediately to the Rumbek State Hospital and also patrolled around the town as well as the WFP premises and the airport area because it is a sensitive area,” a UNMISS commander said .

UNMISS also deployed a civilian team to engage state authorities, community leaders and humanitarian agencies to support efforts to restore stability.

“There are patrols in towns that are running 24/7 to safeguard the movement of the people and those that are deployed to come back to their respective homes. So that is the security team moving day and night in the town and around the periphery of the town,” the commander added.

While the extra security offers immediate stability, sustaining peace in the long term will depend on addressing tensions between communities and rebuilding the trust that has been lost.