Renewed offensives in northern Jonglei state have displaced more than 100,000 people since fighting escalated in December 2025, the UN and humanitarian partners report. On 25 January 2026, the South Sudanese military ordered civilians, aid workers, and UN personnel to evacuate opposition‑held areas in Nyirol, Uror and Akobo counties, preceding a new offensive. The order, combined with incendiary and ethnically charged rhetoric.

Hostilities involve the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF), the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA‑IO), government‑allied militias such as Agwelek, and armed youth often described as the white army. Government aerial bombardments, repeated displacement, severe constraints on humanitarian access, including a government‑imposed no‑fly zone over opposition areas since 1 January 2026, compound civilian vulnerability amid flooding, acute food insecurity, and limited health services.

International humanitarian law requires warnings where feasible, but warnings do not justify indiscriminate attacks or forced displacement. The directives to evacuate risk leaving older people, persons with disabilities and those unable to flee exposed to grave harm. The UN Mission in South Sudan, pressured to shrink, has been urged to maintain presence where possible, increase long‑range patrols and report publicly on abuses. Regional and international actors must condemn incitatory speech, press for safe, sustained humanitarian access and take coordinated steps to prevent atrocity crimes.