UN envoy arrives in Malakal after 20 died following violence at IDP camp

JUBA, JUNE 14, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan Nicolas Haysom has just arrived in the Upper Nile state capital Malakal where violence killed at least 20 people at an IDP camp.

In a statement this morning, the UN mission said Haysom arrived in Malakal to meet the affected people and also to get first-hand information on the incident.

“Nicholas Haysom, SRSG & Head of UNMISS, touches down in Malakal, South Sudan following last week’s upsurge in violence among displaced communities at the UN Protection Site, to meet affected people, peacekeepers, partners, [and] get a firsthand update on the situation,” the UN mission said.

At least fourteen people were initially killed following outbreak of intercommunal violence between the Nuer and Shilluk Communities at the camp on Thursday last week. The death toll then risen to 20 people after more people succumbed to their injuries.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said at the time of the incident that it had deployed peacekeepers in collaboration with local authorities to provide confidence-building patrol and was also meeting community leaders for de-escalation.

Sudans Post was told that the incident occurred as a continuation of an earlier incident in which a young man was stabbed and set on fire by a group of men over a pregnant girl. Sudans Post was unable to verify this claim.