JUBA, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said on Tuesday it has improved lives of several vulnerable communities by providing access to essential utilities like clean water, education and health care since 2011.
David Shearer, special representative of the secretary general and head of UNMISS, said that they have invested at least 7.5 million U.S. dollars in about 140 projects since 2011 to help protect civilians and build durable peace.
"These projects make an immediate impact by improving living conditions so that those who have been displaced by conflict can return home and by building new infrastructure in communities to bring people together in the pursuit of peace," Shearer told journalists in Juba.
The projects also include providing safe houses to vulnerable women, strengthening the justice system to hold perpetrators of sexual violence to account.
"These projects include drilling dozens of waterholes, renovating court houses and police stations to improve the rule of law, building infrastructure such as fish markets and youth sports complexes to encourage economic development and peace-building, as well as rehabilitating health and education centers so that children can reach their full potential," Shearer said.
UNMISS funds each project at a cost of less than 50,000 dollars, partnering with community-based or non-governmental organizations to empower local people, provide jobs and inject money into the economy.
Meanwhile, Shearer also observed that there has been marked decline in violence across the country but expressed deep concerns at the sudden surge of brutal rape and sexual attacks on women and girls recently in Bentiu town of northern Unity region.
Some 125 women and girls were raped between Nov. 19-29 along Nhialdiu, Guit and Bentiu road and some 21 survivors are helping UN human rights investigators to identify their tormentors.
"Our human rights team has launched investigation as we speak getting victim and witness testimonies and working to identify those responsible for the attacks. I think we have interviewed 21 different survivors of these attacks we are hoping they will able to reveal something of who has carried them out," he said.
UNMISS is urging forces in the Bentiu area to guarantee command and control of their troops to ensure that wrong elements are not involved in these criminal acts.
Shearer disclosed that they will continue to support reconciliation and peace activities across the country.
"We have been particularly busy over the last four weeks supporting efforts on ground to bring together South Sudan People's Defense Forces (SSPDF) and other groups to discuss the way forward. This is happening more than a dozen occasions and these meetings are becoming more frequent and widespread within the country," he said.
As the dry season continues, the UN mission will step up efforts to provide packages and possibly transport for people to move to their homes, he said.
"Two weeks ago we actually flew with helicopter about 200 people to their homes in Akobo from Bor. We are very active in trying to encourage those who want and choose to leave Protection of Civilian sites (PoCs)," he said.
South Sudan descended into civil war in late 2013, and the conflict has created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world.
A peace agreement signed in 2015 to end the violence was again violated in July 2016 when the rival factions resumed fighting in the capital, Juba, forcing Machar to flee into exile.
The United Nations estimates that about 4 million South Sudanese have been displaced internally and externally.
President Salva Kiir, his former deputy Machar and several opposition groups in September signed a new power-sharing deal aimed at ending the five-year-old conflict.
