11 June 2015 - Speaking with UNMISS leadership, internally displaced persons (IDP) at the mission’s Malakal protection site today called for more security in the camp.

“We believe that you are doing your best in providing security for us,” said IDP Security Council Chairman Mathew Chuol Jock. “But we need you to intensify your efforts and provide more … measures in and outside the protection site due to uncertainty from both sides of the conflict.”

He also requested increased food assistance, as IDPs numbers were rising in number due to ongoing conflict in the state capital Malakal between the two warring parties.

“Due to newcomers entering the site, the possibility of a food gap arises,” Mr. Jock said. “I urge all humanitarian actors on the ground for more assistance in that area.”

Upper Nile State Coordinator Deborah Schein assured the IDP Council that work was ongoing to fence the outer part of the newly extended protection site.

“At the moment we are improving and raising the fencing around the IDP camp,” Ms. Shein said. “We are creating conditions so that the area is secure and protected.”

She said UNMISS was also rotating in a new police unit, which would be larger in number than the previous one.

UNMISS Malakal is currently hosting more than 30,000 displaced persons, mainly from Malakal town and surrounding areas.