The UN’s peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, UNMISS, “strongly encouraged” residents in March to leave the overcrowded sites – a call repeated last month after two cases of the virus emerged in a camp in the capital, Juba. UN police officers have withdrawn from the camps to protect themselves from COVID-19, while government security forces have intermittently blocked entry to some sites, ostensibly to stop the spread of the disease. The camps – known as Protection of Civilians (PoC) sites – were set up at the beginning of South Sudan’s civil war, in 2013, when civilians fled to UNMISS bases to escape ethnic violence. Protected by UN peacekeepers, they have nonetheless been targeted by armed groups, and UNMISS has struggled to control violent crime inside the sites. Cramped conditions have caused disease outbreaks in the past – and with COVID-19 now spreading in one of the most congested camps, aid groups fear a new health crisis may be coming. Calls for residents to leave the camps – both from the UN and the South Sudanese authorities – predate the coronavirus pandemic and have increased since the formation of a power-sharing unity government in February. But conflict around the country – clashes left at least 200 people dead last month in eastern Jonglei state – means many residents don’t feel safe going home, while others face returns to occupied properties or towns and villages still in ruins.
This briefing looks at how the coronavirus and related restrictions are affecting camp residents, and explores the wider context behind calls for them to return home.