24 January 2014 - If there had been no UNMISS in the Unity State capital Bentiu during the recent crisis, it would have been a disaster for the people, Deputy Governor Mabek Lang de Bilkuei said during the visit of a top UNMISS official today.

“You have provided protection for our people,” Mr. Bilkuei told Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (DSRSG) Raisedon Zenenga. “We are thanking UNMISS and also God for giving us the wisdom to have this very safe compound.”

The deputy governor was expressing gratitude to UNMISS for giving refuge to thousands of unarmed civilians since fighting erupted in the national capital of Juba on 15 December 2013.

Mr. Zenenga also met with other senior government officials to convey the mission’s “sympathies” over the massive loss of lives and physical destruction caused by the crisis in the state and elsewhere in South Sudan.

He praised the diligence and valor shown by UNMISS staff at the mission compound throughout recent events.

The DSRSG and the 13-member UNMISS delegation who accompanied him visited the protection of civilian areas inside the mission’s compound, which housed 10,000 people at the height of the Unity crisis. The numbers of civilians remaining inside the UNMISS facility have since declined to an estimated 2,500.

Among civilians who spoke with Mr. Zenenga were 16 women clutching makeshift white flags, who have launched an initiative to open a dialogue among Unity State’s various ethnic communities.

“We are women of peace, we have come together – Nuer, Dinka, Equatorian – to promote peace and reconciliation,” said Aluel Wal Magor, a 40-year-old mother of nine. “We met with the state governor (Dr. Joseph Nguen Monytuil) to tell him that we don’t buy the idea of being divided along ethnic lines.”

The DSRSG welcomed the peace initiative and also discussed with the women yesterday’s signing of a cessation of hostilities agreement in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa by representatives of President Salva Kiir Mayardit and former Vice-President Riek Machar Teny.

“I told them it’s the beginning of the process of getting back to normalcy,” said Mr. Zenenga. “Our hope is … that there will be no more fighting, and when the fighting stops, there will be no more deaths and we can now begin the process of creating an environment that allows everybody to return home, to reconcile and to start re-building.”

The DSRSG reviewed soldiers belonging to the Mongolian Battalion stationed in Unity during a military parade ceremony in the morning and later hosted a town hall meeting with UNMISS staff.

“There is a full recognition within the UN Security Council that without the presence of UNMISS when this crisis began, there would have been a Rwanda situation here,” said Mr. Zenenga, referring to the 1994 genocide in the East African country that killed an estimated 800,000 people. “I have come to express the mission leadership’s gratitude for the service you have rendered and offer you all the support you need in the coming days and weeks.”

During the drive from the UNMISS compound to the offices of the state governor, the UNMISS delegation saw the sites of dozens of homes and businesses in Bentiu and the neighboring payam of Rubkona that were razed to the ground after anti-government forces withdrew from the Unity State capital on 9 January.