Local authorities in Malakal, capital of South Sudan’s Upper Nile State, are trying to encourage displaced residents to return back home, claiming the town is secure. Malakal changed hands five or six times in fighting since December last year.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday, the Malakal County Commissioner Waur Agot Deng claimed the security situation in the town is calm and stable. He claimed Malakal traders have resumed work, adding that consumer goods are coming from Wau Shilluk, Fashoda and Melut areas.

He emphasized though, “The county authorities are gravely concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation of the displaced who are sheltering in the UN base in Malakal town.”

Nearly 20,000 people have elected to stay at the UNMISS base in Malakal rather than move back into the town, in spite of overcrowding, lack of shelter, blankets and flooding at the base.

The official called for the citizens who had escaped from Malakal to return back home, reaffirming that the situation in general has return to normal.

Photo: Children at the UNMISS base in Malakal