Two Ethiopians serving with UNMISS, the UN peacekeeping operation in South Sudan, were killed when unidentified armed men ambushed a patrol in Jonglei State, the mission said. Seven other people were wounded: three UN peacekeepers, two South Sudanese police officers and two civilian UN employees.
The patrol was travelling toward Pajut when it came under attack, according to a UNMISS statement reported by RFI. The mission did not identify the attackers or provide a motive. It condemned the assault and warned that deliberate attacks on peacekeeping personnel may amount to war crimes.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, confirmed that the two peacekeepers who died were Ethiopian nationals. Guterres condemned the attack, while UNMISS chief Anita Kiki Gbeho said lethal violence against personnel working to support peace in South Sudan was unacceptable.
The ambush occurred amid renewed armed confrontation in South Sudan. RFI reported that forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and opposition militias aligned with Riek Machar had been fighting again for several months, with particularly intense violence in Jonglei. Machar, a former vice president and Kiir’s rival, was under house arrest at the time. The supplied evidence did not connect either side to the patrol attack.
UNMISS had about 12,200 personnel, including approximately 9,000 troops and 1,200 police officers. India, Rwanda, Nepal, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and China were listed among its principal contributors of uniformed personnel. The mission was created on July 8, 2011, one day before South Sudan became independent from Sudan after decades of conflict between southern rebels and the government in Khartoum.
More than 160 UNMISS personnel had died since the mission was established, according to the latest United Nations figures cited in the report. That total covers the mission’s entire history and is distinct from the two fatalities in the August 24 ambush.
The attack also came during a deadly year for non-peacekeeping personnel engaged in relief work. The UN said 36 humanitarian-sector employees had been killed in South Sudan since the beginning of 2026. The supplied account did not suggest that those deaths were part of the same incident.
At the date, responsibility for the Jonglei ambush remained unknown. The verified official account established the movement of the patrol, nationalities of those killed and categories of people wounded, but it did not identify a perpetrating group or explain how the attack unfolded beyond describing it as an ambush. No arrests, perpetrator claim or condition update for the seven wounded people appeared in the supplied evidence.
