31 December 2013 - Seeking too improve security at an UNMISS camp in Bentiu, Unity State, civilians sheltering there organized their first peace meeting today, with support from mission staff.

Some 8,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are living on the base in an effort to escape ongoing violence that erupted in South Sudan on 15 December.

Representatives of various communities in the camp the agreed to hold a series of peace dialogues to boost security as well as relations, improve communication between civilians and mission staff and obtain support for UNMISS and humanitarian actors in service delivery.

Today’s meeting was led by Pariang County community (Unity State). Subsequent gatherings will be led by Nubian, Bahr El-Ghazal, Equatorian, Sudanese and Abiemnom County (Unity State) communities.

“We are living at (the) UNMISS home so we have to observe the rules of UNMISS, even though we might not like them,” Pariang County Community Chief Chuol Makwach said during the meeting.

“For instance, if a Nuer person comes in, we should not try to exercise our revenge on him,” Chief Makwach added. “At the beginning we were suspicious of each other, but … we realized our concerns are the same and then the mistrust began to subside. We even began to share whatever little we have.”

Salomon Ayiko, UNMISS Bentiu Recovery, Reintegration and Peacebuilding Officer, who has been working with IDP communities to help them better organize, explained the UNMISS mandate.

“We provide physical protection from immediate life threat, safe space and water,” Mr. Ayiko said. “We expect you to live in harmony in order for us to be able to help you better.”

“We have very few staff and we need your cooperation -- for instance, in reporting any hazards in the camp, contributing to health awareness and hygiene,” he said.

Mr. Ayiko thanked IDPs for helping distribute food and non- food items, manage movement in and out of the camp and help control consumption of alcohol.

A major concern voiced at the meeting was availability of water in the camp. UNMISS is using all its available tankers to provide water, but the Bentiu base was designed to serve a few hundred people, rather than the thousands it is now harbouring.