The authorities in Central Equatoria State’s Kajo-Keji County have said people who were displaced by the clashes between the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) and the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) in the border areas of Nyainga-Muda have started returning to their homes as the security situation improves.
In July-August 2025, the SSPDF and UPDF clashed along the Kajo-Keji (South Sudan) and Yumbe/Moyo (Uganda) border, displacing over 16,000 people and causing multiple fatalities. The conflict stemmed from land disputes and allegations of cross-border incursions, prompting calls for joint security operations and high-level, urgent dialogue.
Kajo-Keji County Commissioner Wani Jackson Mule told Radio Tamazuj on Thursday that most of the internally displaced people have returned to their homes and that schools, markets, and hospitals have started functioning.
“We worked very hard, and most of them (IDPs) have already gone back home and settled, but a few are still in the IDP camps because they still fear,” he said. “The market of Nyainga-Muda reopened before Christmas, and it is busy. In early January, we also opened the health center and the primary school in the area. Normalcy is returning, although there is still fear because the border issues have not yet been sorted out.”
“People fear that it might happen again, but they are settling,” Commissioner Wani added.
He said the communities from the two countries are coexisting peacefully and moving freely, and that the two armies are positioned at their posts.
“The two areas affected were Nyainga-Muda and Gor-Beleng, but they are now relatively calm, and civilians from both sides have started coexisting peacefully because they can now cross into each other’s areas,” he explained. “The armies have also refrained from provocative activities; each army is staying where they are without interference from the other, so the situation is coming to normal now.”
For his part, Eresto Tomiyo, the chief of Bori Boma, confirmed that people are returning home because of the continued dialogue between Ugandan and South Sudanese officials, but that they have challenges rebuilding their houses, which were burnt during the clashes.
“Some people are already in their homes, and the health center and the market have already been opened. We were taken for a dialogue workshop in Moyo District in Uganda, and we agreed with the Ugandans that there would be no conflict,” he said. “When we came back, we had meetings with our people and told them that there would be no conflict and that they could go back home.”
Commissioner Wani appealed to the government to continue supporting counties that border neighboring countries to strengthen security and urged refugees to return home and start rebuilding their lives.