UN mission to handover remaining protection site to South Sudan

JUBA —  The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said on Monday that talks are underway with the South Sudanese government to hand over the remaining Malakal Protection of Civilians (POC) site in Upper Nile State.

UNMISS spokesperson Priyanka Chowdhury said that the process is progressing in a coordinated and orderly manner, with the safety and protection of residents remaining a central priority.

"UNMISS is working closely with Upper Nile State and national authorities as well as humanitarian partners to facilitate the transition of the Malakal UN Protection of Civilians site into a settlement area, for which the government will take full responsibility under its sovereign obligations to protect civilians," Chowdhury told Xinhua in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

In 2020, the POCs in Bor, Bentiu, Wau, and Juba were redesignated as internally displaced persons camps under government authority.

The Malakal POC site, which hosts approximately 40,000 residents, remains the only safe shelter for civilians fleeing violence amid intermittent clashes between the South Sudan People's Defence Forces and the opposition Sudan People's Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO).

Tensions between the two forces escalated after an attack on the SSPDF base in Nasir, Upper Nile State, in March 2025 by the White Army, a militia which the government claimed to be linked to the SPLA-IO.