The UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan plans to deploy troops inside Malakal, a town that was devastated last year and remains largely abandoned. UNMISS already has forces at a base located on the northern side of Malakal near the airport.
The establishment of a “forward operating base” inside Malakal is intended to improve the security environment for people in order to allow them to return home, according to a UNMISS press statement yesterday.
UNMISS chief Ellen Loej raised the issue with Upper Nile Deputy Governor Gwinye Philip Chan and state ministers in a meeting yesterday.
Loej “addressed the proposed establishment of a forward operating base in Malakal Town manned by UNMISS peacekeepers to promote a more secure and safe environment for internally displaced persons (IDPs) wishing to return to their homes on a voluntary basis,” reads the press statement.
Asked about when the Mission plans to establish this position and whether the government has yet allocated land for the purpose, a spokesman for the peacekeeping mission said the peacekeepers would base themselves at some premises abandoned by a UN aid agency.
“The proposed forward operating base would be established in two facilities formerly used by UNICEF in Malakal so there is no need for the government to allocate any land for this purpose,” said Joseph Contreras, acting spokesman of the UN Mission.
In yesterday’s statement, UN Mission chief Ellen Loej was quoted as saying she was “appalled” by the extent of the damage inflicted on the main market and teaching hospital of Malakal. The once thriving river port was reduced to a ghost town during the intense fighting that engulfed the city in the initial three months of the conflict.
More than 21,000 people including many former Malakal residents are still living at the UNMISS ‘Protection of Civilians’ site at the UN base north of the town.