UN peacekeepers plan to set base in Tambura County
By James Chatim
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said it is constructing a new temporary base for the peacekeepers in Tambura County of Western Equatoria State to strengthen patrols in the conflict-affected area.
It said Tambura town, which has been experiencing armed clashes between different groups and inter-communal violence, needs a new temporary UNMISS operating base to carry out more patrols.
“This signifies a lot because we have a lot of resources and by positioning ourselves in that new temporary operating base, we can do more patrols and engagements, and facilitate peace mediation and processes on the ground,” said Emmanuel Dukundane, UNMISS Civil Affairs Officer.
The mission revealed that since 2021, as recurrent inter-communal violence in the Greater Tambura area escalated, numerous lives have been lost and thousands of people have fled their homes.
The UN mission added that many civilians have sought shelter in one of the several camps for internally displaced people.
To better protect the displaced people, peacekeepers serving with UNMISS have increased their presence and intensified vehicle patrols, said UNMISS on Friday.
Speaking to The City Review yesterday, James Mapaya, Tambura youth representative, said Tambura is currently witnessing fighting between the national army and the SPLM/A-IO rather than inter-communal.
The youth representative said that the two tribes of Azande and Balanda are instead coexisting.
Mapaya noted that the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) will still face some challenges as the newly proposed UNMISS base is far from the market and the main town.
“Actually, the conflict here is not a community conflict, like sometimes being said by some people. It is a conflict between the SPLA-IO and the government,” he stated.
“It’s not really communal violence because now you can see Balanda and Azande coexisting together. If you go to the Balanda side, you will see Azande there, and if you come to the Azande side, you will see some Balanda here,” he said.
“And within the force that is fighting, you get so many tribes. The Azande are there, the Balanda are there. And if you remember the former governor who even went to the bush, that was the force he was supporting and now he is their commander-in-chief here,” he emphasized.
