JUBA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said Thursday it plans to increase peacekeepers in the once restive Upper Nile region to shore up security and boost confidence among internally displaced persons (IDPS) returning home.
David Shearer, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and the Head of the UNMISS, told journalists they are eager to support IDPs who are returning to their homes since fleeing the towns of Kodok, Aburoc and Renk during intensified fighting which displaced tens of thousands since May 2017.
"We are looking to boost our forces in Kodok on the west side of the Nile (river). We will establish a new base to support peace-building in the area so that people have confidence to return. This means that we will need to reconsider the amount of efforts we put into other areas," Shearer told journalists in Juba.
Fighting between government troops and rebels allied to former first vice president Riek Machar displaced thousands, including some 30 aid workers who were withdrawn during the violence forcing the UNMISS to deploy troops at its temporary base in Aburoc.
He said he visited Malakal, Kodok and Renk in Upper Nile where the security situation has improved and people are beginning to return to the area from Aburoc, Sudan and other places where they had sought refuge during the height of the conflict.
Shearer said they are expecting the number of returnees to increase and are working on creating secure environment to support them and enable humanitarians to deliver assistance to them.
UNMISS is comprised of 14,500 peacekeepers, including forces under the Regional Protection Force (RPF) already partially deployed to secure key installations and patrolling major high ways.
South Sudan descended into civil war in late 2013, and the conflict has created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world.
A peace agreement signed in 2015 to end the violence was again violated in July 2016 when the rival factions resumed fighting in the capital, Juba, forcing Machar to flee into exile.
President Salva Kiir, his former deputy and arch rival Machar and several opposition groups in September signed a new power-sharing deal in the Ethiopian capital aimed at ending the five-year old conflict.
The UN estimates that about 4 million South Sudanese have been displaced internally and externally.
