Under the theme “Military women contributing to peace and Security”, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan today initiated a 3-day-long workshop targeting 120 female members of South Sudan’s armed forces, SPLA.

As our helicopter approaches Leer in northern South Sudan, all one can see is eerily empty, dry, sun-stricken land. The people we meet on the ground, however, have a different story to tell. It is one of human suffering on an unimaginable scale.

Ten aid workers who were detained while on an assessment mission near Yei, Central Equatoria, have been freed. The humanitarian workers were held by an armed opposition group in South Sudan for more than five days, since 25 April.