The UN’s peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, Unmiss, has welcomed the news of the withdrawal of fighting forces from Tambura in Western Equatoria state.
Almost 80,000 people there have been forced from their homes and are in urgent need of food and shelter, a humanitarian situation that the UN says “remains alarming”.
More than 100 people were reported to have been killed in the conflict that has lasted almost a year, since a politician from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) was appointed to govern the south-western state, previously one the most peaceful areas in the country.
The violence pitted the two neighbouring communities of Azande and the Balanda who had been living peacefully for centuries in the Tambura area.
The UN panel of experts on Human Rights in South Sudan has said in a recent report that political elites are responsible for the ongoing deadly conflict in Tambura County, allegations they denied.
On Wednesday, the Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangements and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM) announced that the forces that were fighting in Tambura have withdrawn and re-deployed to a training centre in Maridi County far from Tambura.
