The UN mission says it is concerned over recent statements that it is harboring criminals in its protection camps, a dangerous allegation that it says “only serve to discredit the impartial nature of the Mission’s operations and are regrettable.”

Government officials have repeatedly accused the U.N. protection sites of harboring criminals and members of the SPLM-IO. Last Friday, a spokesperson for the SPLA again said that the PoC’s harbor rebels.

“We want to prove to the Southerners that still there are pockets of rebels inside the UNMISS premises” Col. Santo Doming, the army's deputy spokesman said in a press conference.

In Malakal, South Sudanese soldiers attacked a U.N. protection camp in February. Attacking U.N. sites and civilians is a war crime.

The primary responsibility of protecting civilians lies with the government, the U.N. said in a press release. It encouraged parties to “desist from statements or activities that may incite violence and endanger civilians.”

More than 200,000 people live in U.N. protection sites across South Sudan.