The Head of the UN Mission in South Sudan and Special Representative of the Secretary-General is continuing with his 2-day visit to the Unity area with a call for peace to allow displaced people to return to their homes.  David Shearer visited the UN Protection of Civilians (PoC) site sheltering more than 100,000 civilians.  Mr Shearer will travel to Leer later today to assess the situation on the ground and meet with local authorities there.  The Special Representative said peace is needed to move the country forward.

“We need a peace agreement. We need peace, that is the most fundamental element that is missing in South Sudan, and when that happens then you will be able to start creating the conditions for people who have fled their homes to go back to start their livelihood,  start their farms and start grazing their cattle. With peace in South Sudan people can go back to their ordinary lives and we don’t have that at the moment, so we are here to help the South Sudanese people and the citizens of South Sudan, but until there is peace we are struggling. “

In Bentiu, David Shearer met with the state governor and discussed various issues, including the return of people from the Bentiu PoC site to their homes ahead of the planting season.