Lessons Learned from South Sudan Protection of Civilian Sites 2013–2016

42 - Lessons Learned from South Sudan Protection of Civilian Sites - Managing the Response
January 2015, UNMISS successfully negotiated additional
land for the PoC site expansion. By July 2015, humanitarian
actors had renovated and expanded the site to an area equal
to the size of 300 football pitches (Interview 105).
In contrast to 2014, the 2015 dry season was long, with
intense conflicts taking place throughout Unity State.
Tragically, this fighting followed a familiar pattern where,
instead of armed forces fighting one another, warring sides
attacked civilian villages. Consequences were brutal and
pervasive. Men were killed; women and children were
raped, abducted or sent fleeing into the swamps; huts
and infrastructure—including schools, medical clinics
and boreholes—were burned or otherwise destroyed and
cattle were stolen (Office of the DHC). In the wake of these
atrocities, Unity civilians fled to the Bentiu PoC site. When
the PoC site renovation and expansion work began in
January 2015, the site accommodated 50,000 IDPs; within
one year, more than 120,000 IDPs were living at the site.
The renovation and expansion of the UNMISS Bentiu
PoC is a prime example of the different perspectives
regarding the PoC sites. On one hand, humanitarian actors
involved in the expansion consider it to be an enormously
successful accomplishment, which generated the capacity
to save “tens of thousands of lives” (Interviews 10, 32, 43).
On the other hand, the UNMISS perspective is often that
the expansion and services created a draw factor that led
to the huge influx of IDPs that they must now protect. Most
likely it is the failure of all actors, including the government,
to be able to respond and protect civilians outside of the
bases. As one prominent humanitarian believes, “the failure
to provide protection of civilians was the responsibility
of the Government, and secondarily of UNMISS and
humanitarian actors. We all failed. For six months none
of the responsible actors was in a position to provide
protection for the civilians in Unity State. Insecurity and
widespread violence made the provision of humanitarian
assistance impossible.”
One of the persistent frustrations expressed by respondents
was the lack of contextual understanding throughout the
international community working in South Sudan. History
often defines worldviews and identity and this is especially
important in a country that has faced decades of warfare.
South Sudanese rarely see ongoing conflict dynamics as
independent of the past, but often there is has been a
tendency among the humanitarian community, UNMISS
The rainy season exacerbates public health concerns such as water borne diseases and malaria. © IOM 2015 Photo: Brendan Bannon