SOUTH SUDAN / MALAKAL SRSG VISIT

16-Jun-2023 00:04:31
In the aftermath of last week’s intercommunal clashes at the UN Protection Site in Malakal, South Sudan, Nicholas Haysom, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of UNMISS travelled to Upper Nile’s capital city to speak with affected communities and state authorities. UNMISS
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STORY: SOUTH SUDAN/SRSG VISITS MALAKAL
TRT: 04:31
SOURCE: UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH/NAT

DATELINE: 14 JUNE 2023, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN
SHOTLIST
08 JUNE 2023, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN

1. Various shots, displaced persons

06 OCT 2022, TONGA, SOUTH SUDAN

2. Various shots, IDP

14 JUNE 2023, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN

3. Various shots, SRSG at Malakal Airport
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Nicholas Haysom, SRSG & Head of UNMISS:
“I think to properly understand Malakal you have to understand the difference between triggers and drivers of conflict. The driver of the conflict—because we saw this conflict building up in Renk, then it shifted to Malakal—was pressure on the communities for scarce resources at a time when resources couldn’t cope with the new influx. Those triggers are going to continue to be present and we need to recognize them and take the steps in the communities who are facing pressures, to handle them in a peaceful way.”

14 JUNE 2023, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN

5. Med shot, SRSG walking

06 OCT 2022, TONGA, SOUTH SUDAN

6. Med shot, displaced people sitting
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Nicholas Haysom, SRSG & Head of UNMISS:
“It’s our responsibility and we’re very clear that there are no firearms allowed in UN camps; camps may not be places where people with arms congregate and we have such a rule. Our capacity to enforce it is always tested, not only in Malakal but throughout the country; not only by the UN but by anybody who administers IDP camps. There are numerous ways of smuggling weapons into camps and the best defence against that is to persuade the community to take the lead in making it clear that rearmament is not the way to provide security for communities.”

14 JUNE 2023, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN

8. Med shot, SRSG at Malakal Airport
9. Wide shot, SRSG walking in the rain

08 JUNE 2023, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN

10. Wide shot, IDP standing
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Fran O’Grady, Acting UNMISS Deputy Chief (Humanitarian):
“One of the key messages that the SRSG has reinforced today is the importance of (local) communities supporting the humanitarian community and UNMISS in the delivery of humanitarian assistance that can best use the resources that we have because we need to identify who are the really vulnerable—the young, the old, the people who are out in the rain in this weather now so we can get that assistance to them.”

14 JUNE 2023, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN

12. Wide shot, Peter sitting
13. Close-Up, Peter listening
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Van der Auweraert, Humanitarian Coordinator a.i, South Sudan:
“Shelter, making sure everyone is sheltered, is, of course, a priority. Secondly, there are people who lost everything they have in the fighting that went on last week and making sure that people have the basic non-food items that they need in their daily life is the second priority. And, of course, the third priority—maybe I should have put that first—is to ensure that people who need food support and that need to receive food or nutrition for babies receive that.”

06 OCT 2022, TONGA, SOUTH SUDAN

15. Close-Up, women sitting

14 JUNE 2023, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN

16. Med shot, SRSG greeting at the Malakal Airport
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Nicholas Haysom, SRSG & Head of UNMISS:
“That’s meticulously false. We are meticulously unbiased and impartial in our reaction and in our support for communities. We do so consciously because we are involved in the business of supporting aid, which has to be even handed and in the protection of communities which has to be equally even handed.”

08 JUNE 2023, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN

18. Various shots, community leaders with Acting Force Commander

14 JUNE 2023, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN

19. Wide shot, SRSG with nuer community
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Nicholas Haysom, SRSG & Head of UNMISS:
“What is absolutely critical is that South Sudanese have to learn to live together and there can be no place for intercommunal violence or intercommunal hatred. It’s very important that the leadership of communities are the first ones to pronounce themselves on this necessity.”
STORYLINE
In the aftermath of last week’s intercommunal clashes at the UN Protection Site in Malakal, South Sudan, Nicholas Haysom, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of UNMISS travelled to Upper Nile’s capital city to speak with affected communities and state authorities.

For the top UN official, preventing such incidents and tragic loss of life is key, As is the understanding that the ongoing crisis in neighbouring Sudan, which has led to over 100,000 people returning to South Sudan via Renk in Upper Nile is creating new flashpoints that, combined with pre-existing drivers of conflict, are igniting violence.

SOUNDBITE (English) Nicholas Haysom, SRSG & Head of UNMISS:
“I think to properly understand Malakal you have to understand the difference between triggers and drivers of conflict. The driver of the conflict—because we saw this conflict building up in Renk, then it shifted to Malakal—was pressure on the communities for scarce resources at a time when resources couldn’t cope with the new influx. Those triggers are going to continue to be present and we need to recognize them and take the steps in the communities who are facing pressures, to handle them in a peaceful way.”

A key conflict driver, according to SRSG Haysom, is the presence of firearms among those sheltering at camps for the internally displaced as well as the Protection Site in Malakal.

SOUNDBITE (English) Nicholas Haysom, SRSG & Head of UNMISS:
“It’s our responsibility and we’re very clear that there are no firearms allowed in UN camps; camps may not be places where people with arms congregate and we have such a rule. Our capacity to enforce it is always tested, not only in Malakal but throughout the country; not only by the UN but by anybody who administers IDP camps. There are numerous ways of smuggling weapons into camps and the best defence against that is to persuade the community to take the lead in making it clear that rearmament is not the way to provide security for communities.”

This is, of course, a priority that needs to be jointly tackled with all stakeholders, but at present another vital issue is providing displaced communities impacted by this latest conflict with the humanitarian assistance that they so desperately need, especially due to torrential rain.

SOUNDBITE (English) FRAN O’GRADY, Acting UNMISS Deputy Chief (Humanitarian):
“One of the key messages that the SRSG has reinforced today is the importance of (local) communities supporting the humanitarian community and UNMISS in the delivery of humanitarian assistance that can best use the resources that we have because we need to identify who are the really vulnerable—the young, the old, the people who are out in the rain in this weather now so we can get that assistance to them.”

Peter Van der Auweraert, the Acting Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan agrees.

SOUNDBITE(English) Peter Van der Auweraert, Humanitarian Coordinator a.i, South Sudan:
“Shelter, making sure everyone is sheltered, is, of course, a priority. Secondly, there are people who lost everything they have in the fighting that went on last week and making sure that people have the basic non-food items that they need in their daily life is the second priority. And, of course, the third priority—maybe I should have put that first—is to ensure that people who need food support and that need to receive food or nutrition for babies receive that.”

With community members still shaken, rumours and misinformation about the UN family waving biased conflict responses are also circulating, something that Mr. Haysom firmly negates.

SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Nicholas Haysom, SRSG & Head of UNMISS:
“That’s meticulously false. We are meticulously unbiased and impartial in our reaction and in our support for communities. We do so consciously because we are involved in the business of supporting aid, which has to be even handed and in the protection of communities which has to be equally even handed.”

The UN’s commitment to restoring calm in Malakal can be seen in constant community engagements by peacekeepers and humanitarians alike, but, according to SRSG Haysom it is, ultimately, up to South Sudan’s leaders and people to forge a more peaceful, prosperous future.

SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Nicholas Haysom, SRSG & Head of UNMISS:
“What is absolutely critical is that South Sudanese have to learn to live together and there can be no place for intercommunal violence or intercommunal hatred. It’s very important that the leadership of communities are the first ones to pronounce themselves on this necessity.”
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