The United Nations has built a police post at Khor William, an area of Juba city that saw heavy violence during the December 2013 crisis.

The post is one of three constructed with support of UN Police (UNPOL) since the crisis, after posts built in Miya-Saba and Hai Tarawa. The posts have been built in areas that have been largely depopulated since last year.

These areas had been inhabited in large part by ethnic Nuers who now live under the protection of UN peacekeepers at camps in Juba.

Central Equatoria Police Commissioner Henry Danima, speaking at a handover ceremony, thanked those who provided the resources for construction of the building.

“The police are employed … to provide safety and security for the lives and properties of the people living within the Republic of South Sudan,” he said.

As quoted by the UN radio service in South Sudan, Acting UN Police Commissioner Nair Itendra explained that the outpost “is intended to facilitate the South Sudan National Police Service Inspector General of Police’s confidence and trust-building programme and the pilot project for safe return (of displaced civilians).”

Itendra said the police presence aims at creating “a secure environment for the displaced population to return to the areas, to safeguard and protect the properties of the inhabitants in Khor William area…”

The UN radio service said five other posts are expected to be constructed in the coming months.

File photo: Police training to work at an emergency call centre supported by UNDP