The perimeter of a civilian safe haven protected by UN peacekeepers in South Sudan's Unity State was temporarily breached by soldiers during fighting on Tuesday, according to a UN spokesman.

UNMISS has condemned the breach carried out by SPLA soldiers without saying whether anybody was harmed in the incident.

Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General Farhan Haq told press at the UN headquarters in New York that fighting took place on Tuesday morning and afternoon in the vicinity of the UNMISS compound in Bentiu, in Unity State. He said that an artillery shell landed in the protection of civilians’ site.

“The Mission strongly condemns today's breach of the protection of civilians’ site's perimeter by SPLA soldiers. UNMISS currently protects some 53,000 civilians in Bentiu,” he said.

Farhan noted that protection sites “provide safety to civilians under threat of violence,” calling on the warring parties not to do anything to “undermine the sanctity of the protection of civilians’ sites.”

Upper Nile clashes

UNMISS yesterday also reported intermittent fighting in the area around Renk, saying mortars were fired from the vicinity of its base in the town.

The fighting around Renk follows an SPLA offensive last week in and around Wadakona, a few kilometres south of Renk on the opposite bank of the Nile.

“Fighting around Wadakona and Renk constitutes the biggest military action since the peace talks collapsed at the beginning of the month,” the UN spokesman said.

Photo: UNMISS peacekeepers at the Bentiu base in January 2014 (Courtesy photo/Radio Tamazuj)