South Sudan: Health, Protection Risks At Overcrowded UN Bases in South Sudan

Juba — Since fighting broke out across nearly half of South Sudan in mid-December, at least 75,000 people have fled to UN compounds, desperate for security and shelter. More than four months later, as battles between government troops and forces loyal to former vice-president Riek Machar continue, the displaced are still arriving at the UN gates.

As many as 20,000 people streamed into the base in the Unity State capital, Bentiu, this month after opposition forces allegedly carried out ethnically targeted killings after taking control of the town.

"So many people are saying there is nowhere else for them to go," Toby Lanzer, the UN humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan, told IRIN after a recent trip to Bentiu. The opportunity to shelter in the camps is "giving civilians who are just stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time, a sense of hope."

But the fear is they may have exchanged the dangers of the frontline for new risks: The start of the rainy season could speed disease outbreaks within the congested camps, while a civilian attack on one UN compound this month left dozens of people dead and signalled that the bases cannot necessarily shield people from the fighting they moved there to escape.

Aid agencies have lashed out at the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), accusing its leaders of not working fast enough to improve conditions in existing camps or build new ones, even as UNMISS officials promise new sites will finally be ready next month. At the same time, some UNMISS officials are calling for the military reinforcements the UN Security Council authorized in December so they can simply secure the sites they already have.

The safety of the UN camps - now known as protection of civilians (POC) sites - was called into question in the early days of the fighting when armed youth stormed the base in Akobo, in eastern South Sudan, on 19 December. They killed two Indian peacekeepers and at least 20 civilians.

In the days after the Akobo attack, the Security Council unanimously approved an increase in the number of UNMISS peacekeepers from 7,000 to 12,500. So far, about 650 of the promised peacekeepers have arrived or are on the way, according to acting UNMISS spokesperson Joe Contreras.

Despite the slow deployment, there were no major security incidents at the camps for nearly four months, though aid workers reported some bases had been caught in the crossfire of some battles, and residents had been hit by stray bullets. Then, on 17 April, a group of youth armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons breached the Bor compound.