By Oketayot Santo
The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said Tuesday that they have heard indications that there may be recruitment taking place in South Sudan by parties involved in Sudan where young men and boys are recruited to increase their forces.
Addressing a News Conference at the UNMISS base in Juba, Nicholas Haysom, the Head of UNMISS said they are worried that the firearms are going to start drifting into South Sudan as conflict in the Sudan continues.
“These are not issues that we in UNMISS can readily deal with, we don’t maintain the border, we don’t maintain customs, but we would be keen to alert communities and the authorities, if we can, play a helpful role to minimize what could be potentially very disruptive spillover of the conflict” Haysom said.
The UNMISS Chief said about 550,000 people have crossed into South Sudan from Sudan and they expect that the number will continue to grow and it is putting increasing stress on communities which is causing tensions among the displaced and host communities as the conflict continues.
“The longer the conflict continues, the more stress, the less able communities are to absorb newcomers. And you know it’s happening at a time in which the humanitarian food aid pot is growing smaller. And so, we are beginning to see signs of tension between the newcomers and the host communities which are looking after them” Haysom said.
More than 7.2 million people have been displaced inside and outside Sudan since fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces on April 15, 2023 according to the UN.
