UN peacekeepers, aid workers scale up efforts to fight floods in Bentiu

JUBA – Engineers from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and humanitarian partners have managed to repair flood-induced breaches at the Bentiu IDP camp where more than 100,000 persons in Unity State, are being housed.

Nicholas Haysom, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for South Sudan, and Head of UNMISS said intense rainfall over the past weekend has resulted in the flooding of the IDP camp.

“We continue to strengthen the area which was breached. Monitoring and placement of sandbags to patch the seepage have increased, and we are working around the clock to recover the road leading to the local airstrip to ensure the delivery of life-saving services,” Haysom said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Haysom said the joint efforts of the UN peacekeepers, humanitarian partners, and local community members, are now yielding results, as the water levels begin to recede.

“The Mission is now working to repair roads to the north of Bentiu to secure the trade route from the north, as the southern access to Bentiu town has been submerged by the flooding,” said Haysom.

He said the UN peacekeepers and aid workers are continuing extra work to ensure that the local airstrip remains open and functional.

“The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has also hired monitors at the IDP site, to help check the, section by section.”

“They’ve also quickly provided three pumps from Juba to Bentiu to assist with the recovery of the flooded areas. When weaknesses are discovered, sandbags are used to repair them temporarily, until dedicated expert IOM teams implement permanent solutions,” he said.