The head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has deferred plans to close a peacekeeping base in the remote Abiemnhom region of Unity State after witnessing the acute security and humanitarian threats facing local communities, including a deadly attack in March 2026 that forced thousands to seek refuge with Mongolian peacekeepers. Unity State (an oil-rich region in northern South Sudan) has been inundated by severe flooding since 2019, with waters surrounding the town of Bentiu continuing to rise each rainy season, and forecasts of an intensified El Niño year heightening fears of catastrophic new floods that could overwhelm the extensive network of dykes maintained by UNMISS engineers. Local community leaders say residents have no capacity to construct or repair flood defences on their own and are calling on the UN and the South Sudanese government to urgently intervene with infrastructure support and evacuation planning before conditions worsen.