UN to set up new base in S Sudan after attack on VP’s convoy

The UN mission in South Sudan will set up a peacekeeping base in Lobonok, where six bodyguards of Vice-President James Wani Igga were killed last month.

The mission cited other attacks on civilians and humanitarian convoys in the region as the reason for setting up the new base.

The head of the mission, David Shearer, said the new base “will enable us to provide a protective presence in the area”.

There have been several attacks on aid workers in the last few days in the area, according to the UN mission.

Rebels from the National Salvation Front (Nas), who are led by former army general Thomas Cirillo Swaka, said they carried out last month’s attack on the vice-president’s convoy.

The group wasn’t part of the peace deal between the government and armed opposition groups signed in 2018 that ended years of violence.