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STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / AKOBO
TRT: 02:47
SOURCE: UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / AKOBO-NUER
DATELINE: 03 NOVEMBER, 2017, AKOBO, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Wide shot, Akobo community
2. Tracking shot, women singing
3. Pan right, placards calling for peace
4. Med shot, banner of women’s meeting
5. Wide shot, women dancing
6. Med shot, women holding banner
7. SOUNDBITE (Akobo-Nuer) Mary Nyknchol, Leader of Widows Group, Akobo:
“The problems faced by the South Sudanese affect mostly women and children.”
8. Pan right, people in the ground
9. Wide shot, kids running
10. Pan left, children singing
11. Med shot, town residents
12. Zoom in, clown
13. Various shots, SRSG meeting NGOs
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Mikolaj Radlicki, Staff Member, Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED):
“I think it will provide us, the NGO partners here, greater security and we will be able to expand our activities, simply because we feel that there is someone to protect us. And I think this will make an impact on our programming, it could grow, and we could reach more beneficiaries in the area.”
15. Wide shot, abandoned UNMISS Base Camp at Akobo
16. Wide shot, visitors near abandoned tanks
17, Pan left, abandoned tanks
18. Med shot, ammunitions inside abandoned tank
19. Wide shot, SRSG speaking to community
20. SOUNDBITE(English) David Shearer, Special Representative of the Secretary General:
“It seems to me that a presence here would be a very useful thing for us to have. So, we have been speaking with the County Commissioner, with many of the other officials here, to see what might be most appropriate. Logistically, getting a large force here will take us months just because of the difficulty of getting things here, but we are looking at what options are available for us to be able to expand our presence, give some added value to what is going on here. But at the same time trying to keep our footprint relatively light.”
21. Wide shot, SRSG walking with NGOs
22. Wide shot, crowd through window
One hundred and fifty women draped in white gowns sang messages of peace in the town of Akobo, in a remote and hard-to-reach area in the north-east of the South Sudan close to the border with Ethiopia.
They held placards calling for peace and the end of the almost 4-year old conflict in South Sudan, which has driven four million people, a third of the population, from their homes.
Mary Nyknchol, is the leader of women widows in Akobo and part of a group of women who describe themselves as “agents of peace” in the war-torn community, leading peace talks and workshops.
SOUNDBITE (Akobo-Nuer) Mary Nyknchol, Leader of Widows Group, Akobo:
“The problems faced by the South Sudanese affect mostly women and children.”
The humanitarian needs of people in Akobo are extensive. Insecurity in the region and poor road conditions mean it is logistically challenging and expensive to support aid programmes there. During the rainy season the only way to deliver aid is by air.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is looking at ways of extending its presence in the town to support the humanitarian response, in line with its mandate to protect civilians and help create an environment conducive to the delivery of humanitarian aid.
The presence of peacekeepers would be welcome, according to Mikolaj Radlicki who represents the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED), one of 10-15 local and international NGOs which are providing humanitarian assistance in the town.
SOUNDBITE (English) Mikolaj Radlicki, Staff Member, Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED):
“I think it will provide us, the NGO partners here, greater security and we will be able to expand our activities, simply because we feel that there is someone to protect us. And I think this will make an impact on our programming, it could grow, and we could reach more beneficiaries in the area.”
The UN mission had operated a base in Akobo but it was closed down following an attack in December 2013 in which two Indian peacekeepers and thirty civilians were killed.
The head of UNMISS, David Shearer, visited Akobo which lies in an opposition-held part of South Sudan, to understand the needs of the community, the authorities and humanitarian workers based there.
SOUNDBITE(English) David Shearer, Special Representative of the Secretary General:
“It seems to me that a presence here would be a very useful thing for us to have. So, we have been speaking with the County Commissioner, with many of the other officials here, to see what might be most appropriate. Logistically, getting a large force here will take us months just because of the difficulty of getting things here, but we are looking at what options are available for us to be able to expand our presence, give some added value to what is going on here. But at the same time trying to keep our footprint relatively light.”
Some 71,000 displaced people are currently living in Akobo and the surrounding area after fleeing fighting between government SPLA and opposition forces to the north-east. There are concerns that the town could, in the future, become a strategic battleground for control of the region.
