Twenty-six humanitarian workers have gone missing after violent clashes in South Sudan’s Jonglei state, raising urgent concerns over the safety of aid personnel.
Doctors Without Borders said the missing staff disappeared amid escalating fighting that forced medical teams to abandon hospitals in Lankien and Pieri towns.
Among 291 MSF employees stationed in the area, many fled with their families and now shelter in remote locations with scarce food, water, and basic services.
The medical charity warned that halted operations have left nearly 250,000 people without healthcare, deepening an already fragile humanitarian situation across conflict-hit communities.
Emergency support has begun where security conditions permit, while the organisation works to assist displaced staff navigating uncertainty and growing risks.
Yashovardhan, MSF’s head of mission in South Sudan, said violence has devastated healthcare systems and those who dedicated their lives to sustaining them.
He emphasised that medical workers must never be targeted, warning that attacks on humanitarian services threaten civilians already burdened by years of conflict.
South Sudan gained independence in 2011 but slid into civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir dismissed Vice President Riek Machar, accusing him of plotting a coup.
Despite a 2018 peace agreement and transitional unity government, political tensions and armed clashes have continued to destabilise the world’s youngest nation.
Fighting between government forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in-Opposition has intensified in northern Jonglei since December, driving renewed displacement and insecurity.
Violence first emerged earlier in western regions before spreading northward, exposing persistent divisions within the transitional government formed under the peace deal.
Machar, under house arrest since last March and facing charges including treason and crimes against humanity, remains central to South Sudan’s unresolved political crisis.
