Ceasefire monitors and an integrated team of the UN Mission in South Sudan(UNMISS) have gained access to the conflict-affected counties of Baggari and Mboro near Wau after two months of restrictions due to armed clashes in the area. 

The traveling party reached Baggari and Fallajalla on 28 August. The normally fairly busy area, they observed, was now largely deserted, with only a few civilians emerging from overgrown grass, like an exuberant rainbow through the leaden clouds after an overpoweringly soil-soaking South Sudanese downpour.

The stoic civilians with whom the team interacted explained that they were lacking the necessary food and non-food items to survive. A need for schools, health centres and markets was also discerned, as these facilities had been abandoned, looted and in some cases destroyed.

An assessment team from the World Food Programme (WFP) reached the same conclusion after having accessed Baggari on 22 August. Humanitarians are currently preparing a response to the civilian population in the area.

On 30 August, a convoy of UN staff traveling with ceasefire monitors also made it to Mboro, a village which was similarly affected by the conflict.

According to the local authorities, access to these locations has been restricted since June because of the then ongoing clashes in the area. The significant violence that took place made it impossible for the local government to guarantee the safety of peacekeepers, ceasefire monitors and humanitarians.

Wau Governor Angelo Taban Biajo, in an interview with Radio Miraya, appealed to humanitarian organizations to resume the provision of assistance to the needy population.

The Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed on 21 December 2017, and recently renewed as a “permanent ceasefire”, stipulates that warring parties are to guarantee humanitarian aid unhindered access to vulnerable civilians.

The agreement also states that the parties to the conflict cooperate fully with the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangement Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM), the body tasked with monitoring and verifying the ceasefire, and report on any breaches of it.