Overview
Between April and September 2015, the scale and brutality of violence in southern and central Unity reached alarming levels. Civilians were systematically targeted and killed, entire villages were burned, and thousands of people were forcibly displaced. Humanitarian actors worked to gain access to vulnerable populations, only to see safety assurances breached and humanitarian staff killed.
Civilians and the humanitarian community watched closely to see whether the signing of the peace agreement on 17 and 26 August 2015 would mean an end to the violence. The result has been mixed: while some areas have seen a tentative calm, others continue to experience violence. The Protection Cluster has received more than ten reports of attacks in southern and central Unity since the entry into force of the permanent ceasefire on 29 August, and troops who remain stationed in key strategic locations pose an ongoing threat to the civilian population.
While protection actors are encouraged that there has been a relative reduction in the intensity of violence in September, they are nevertheless troubled by the violence that has taken place over the past five months. The following sections outline some of the key concerns