The increased uncertainty has forced the evacuation of personnel from two Joint Border Verification System sites on the border between Sudan and South Sudan.
The United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA) has withdrawn all peacekeeping troops and national observers from two areas on the border between Sudan and South Sudan, the United Nations said on Monday.
The withdrawal from the Tishwin and Abu Qussa/Wunkur positions was completed by the end of the week, according to the statement. The two sites are part of the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism, a system designed to monitor and verify activity along disputed borders between neighboring nations.
“This withdrawal follows an assessment that the increasingly volatile and unpredictable security situation in the two regions significantly impeded the safe and effective delivery of power,” The UN reported.
The withdrawal follows the disruption of the mission’s activities in Sudan. In December, a logistics camp in Kadugli was evacuated after an attack on Bangladeshi peacekeepers stationed there.
The move comes as Sudan continues to face civil war.
Sudan was plunged into chaos in April 2023 when fighting broke out between the national army (Sudan Armed Forces, SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This happened after several months of tension between their commanders, army generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ‘Hemedti’, respectively, over the transition plan to civilian rule. What began in the capital, Khartoum, as a power struggle, has devastated the country, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions.
Regional and international peace efforts, including the mediation of the African Union and the Saudi-American talks in Jeddah, have repeatedly stalled. Sudanese officials have named citizens of Colombia and Ukraine among the mercenaries who support the RSF against the army. Officials have also accused Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates of involvement and recently claimed the European Union has “Incomplete understanding of complex situations” in the country.
Khartoum has also accused the authorities in neighboring Kenya of supporting the RSF and has severed ties with the East African IGAD group amid distrust of regional mediation. In July, TASIS, a political alliance affiliated with the militia, announced the formation of an opposition government several months after its members signed an accord in Nairobi. It named General Dagalo as the chairman of the 15-member presidential council, a move rejected by the UN and the AU.
Neighboring South Sudan has faced years of instability since gaining independence from Sudan.
South Sudan has been suffering from political instability and armed conflict since it gained its independence in 2011. The civil war that lasted for five years broke out in 2013 due to the conflict between President Salva Kiir Mayardit and the former First Vice President Riek Machar, which resulted from the struggle for power within the ruling party of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM3) and that party was still found in Sudan8. A 2018 peace accord officially ended the civil war, but fighting continues across the country, driven by local militias and conflicts over resources.
The situation has been further complicated by political upheavals, including Machar’s arrest in March 2025. Machar’s party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), has warned that his detention effectively nullifies the 2018 peace agreement. Machar has been accused of supporting the White Army, a militia that includes mostly Nuer fighters, who have reportedly been involved in fighting in Upper Nile state.
Ongoing insecurity has displaced hundreds of thousands, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), by the end of 2025, South Sudan had more than 2.7 million internally displaced persons, and more than 9 million people in total need humanitarian assistance.
Following the incident, the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring System temporarily moved its headquarters to Abyei, where it continues to monitor developments in the border area.
UNISFA said it remains committed to supporting stability between Sudan and South Sudan and implementing border security arrangements previously agreed by the two governments.
The mission was established by the United Nations Security Council in June 2011 under Resolution 1990 after fighting between Sudanese forces and the then-independent south over the disputed region of Abyei, shortly before South Sudan declared independence. The deployment of the troops followed an agreement between the two sides to demilitarize the area and allow international peacekeeping troops to bring stability to the area after violence displaced more than 100,000 people.
The force, which was originally made up of almost all Ethiopian peacekeepers, has yet to be deployed as the status of Abyei, claimed by Sudan and South Sudan, remains unresolved.
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