On his second visit to Bor town in Jonglei, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), David Shearer, has underscored the need to urgently remove the obstacles that stop the people displaced by conflict from returning home.

“We wanted to look at some of the areas that we can work together to remove the obstacles that would enable that to happen,” said the head of the UN Mission, highlighting the desire by many to leave the Protection of Civilians site in the town.

The site was established by the UN in December 2013 to protect civilians from physical violence, at the onset of internal conflict.

 “So if we can remove problems that stop people from moving out, be it the lack of resources they possess; fear of insecurity; the fact that humanitarian activity is going on inside the PoC (Protection of Civilian site) and not the outside; their homes that might be occupied by other families – all of these things are obstacles that stop people from returning home,” Mr. Shearer said, shortly before spending the afternoon interacting with the displaced persons at the Bor protection site.

The Governor of Jonglei, Philip Aguer Panyang, expressed the desire to see a return to normalcy, and the hope that United Nations patrols would eventually move to other regions of the country that still need protection.

“We consider Jonglei state to be in a post-conflict situation because we don’t have any political conflict here,” he said, reiterating the need to create conditions for the displaced persons to return home.

“We hope the next phase will open up for the return of the IDPs [internally displaced persons], for their rehabilitation, for their reintegration into the society – and that needs support – so that they can start the process of agriculture in peace; and the process of resettling, and provision of services like water, and education.”

Kejokejo Dual Machar, the youth leader in the Protection of Civilians site in Bor, captured the general sentiments of the displaced communities.

“We’re tired of living in the PoC [Protection of Civilians sites]. The dreams of people living outside are [different]. They’re dreaming of good education. But living in the PoC, our dreams are only the Kalashnikovs (AK47) and bombs, bombs,” he said, in a plea that seemed to resonate with the more than 2,200 hundred internally displaced persons in the UN protection site in Bor, as many attending the meeting the head of the UN Mission applauded thunderously.

“We need a peaceful atmosphere. We need our situation to improve, and we need to resume our education. We the youth of South Sudan, especially, will not accept to be used as a tool of war. We will be the tool of peace,” he said, to more applause. “What we need is for the international community to reconvene the peace process in Ethiopia,” he concluded.

Located a short, 45 minutes flight from the South Sudanese capital, Juba, the Bor Protection of Civilians site is currently home to 2,296 biometrically registered internally displaced persons. There is an additional 277 new arrivals, who have been granted temporary access to the site from September 2017 to February 2018.