Closure of UNMIS

UNMIS wound up its operations on 9 July 2011 with the completion of the interim period agreed on by the Government of Sudan and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed on 9 January 2005.

The mission ended its six years of mandated operations the same day South Sudan declared independence, following a CPA-provided referendum on 9 January 2011 that voted overwhelmingly in favour of secession.

In support of the new nation, the Security Council established a successor mission to UNMIS – the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) – on 9 July for an initial period of one year, with the intention to renew for further periods as required.

Livestock patrol unit formed in Jonglei

9 Jun 2010

Livestock patrol unit formed in Jonglei

Fifty Southern Sudan Police Service (SSPS) officers were officially inducted into the region's first-ever Livestock Patrol Unit at a ceremony in the Jonglei State village of Malual Chaat on 7 June.

Designed to combat chronic cattle rustling throughout Southern Sudan, the pilot unit was established at the end of a six-week training course that took place in Jonglei because it is the southern state worst hit by cattle raids.

"We have five states (Jonglei, Eastern Equatoria, Warrap, Western Bahr El-Ghazal and Unity) in Southern Sudan which are most affected by cattle rustling – an act which also causes loss of lives," said Maj.Gen. Makur Marol Adout, SSPS Training and Administration Chief in remarks delivered at the event in Malual Chaat, which is near the Jonglei State capital of Bor.

Nearly 130 cattle rustling cases occurred in Southern Sudan in the first five months of this year and caused the deaths of nearly 600 people, according to UNMIS Police Regional Chief of Operations Alexander Odonkor. Over 210 people sustained injuries in those raids.

"The crime in the state is not in urban but in rural areas caused by cattle rustlers and child abductors," said Jonglei State Governor Kol Manyang Juuk, adding that security was the key challenge facing the state's residents.

The training was conducted by the SSPS and UNMIS UN Police (UNPOL) advisers and was funded by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Government of Canada.

The recently concluded training course will be replicated in other states depending on the availability of funding, said UNPOL Reform and Restructuring Coordinator Saroj Singh.

A patrol base will soon be built in the village of Pariak approximately 45 kilometres from Bor where cattle rustling was the most severe, Mr. Singh added.

Eight women were among the police officers who underwent the training, and they received instruction on a variety of topics that included livestock tracking, information gathering, survival skills, crime scene management, community policing, law, first aid and human rights.