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Series 1: 3. Keeping the Peace in South Sudan

In this episode, the British Army is deployed on a UN peacekeeping operation to protect thousands escaping South Sudan's civil war. In a country where government troops can be lawless and corrupt, can the British Army help build peace and stop genocide?\n\nSouth Sudan is the world's newest country. It gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but quickly descended into civil war. For the last four years, rebels from the Nuer tribe have tried to overthrow government forces from the Dinka tribe, known as the SPLA. 50,000 people have been killed and over 3 million forced to flee their homes. This is the British Army's first humanitarian peacekeeping mission since they and the UN were unable to stop massacres in Bosnia in the 90s.\n\nThe UN's role in South Sudan is to provide humanitarian aid, broker peace and protect civilians escaping war. UN soldiers and police currently guard 210,000 civilians in eight PoCs - protection of civilian camps - and try to patrol the wider country. The British contingent of 400 engineers, medics and infantry are deployed to bolster security at two of the biggest PoC camps. They must take orders from the UN, who can only operate with the consent of the two warring factions in South Sudan.\n\nOne contingent of 190 British soldiers is sent to Malakal. The area has been subject to fierce fighting. Government soldiers now control the city. For 30,000 civilians from the Nuer tribe, aligned to the rebels, and another local tribe, the Shilluk, the camp is their only safe haven. 25-year-old rifleman Sam Warner is one of 30 British soldiers manning a watchtower in the British sector of the UN Base. An RPG warhead has recently been left at the camp gates and just 11 months before the British arrived, UN guards failed to defend the camp when 100 government soldiers breached the perimeter. They killed 30 Nuer and Shilluk civilians and two aid workers.

Source: BBC 2