MSF Reports 26 Staff Missing After Violence in South Sudan
Last update: March 2, 2026
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Medical charity suspends services in Jonglei state as clashes intensify and fears of wider civil war grow.
Doctors Without Borders said on Monday that 26 of its staff remain unaccounted for following a recent surge in violence in South Sudan.
Twenty six of the 291 MSF employees working in Lankien and Pieri have not been heard from amid ongoing insecurity, the organisation said in a statement.
MSF has suspended medical services in both towns, located in Jonglei state, which has experienced heavy fighting between government and opposition forces since December.
The charity said one of its facilities in Lankien was struck by a government air raid on February 3.
CBI News reports that many staff members were forced to flee alongside their families as violence escalated. Several are now displaced and sheltering in remote areas with limited access to food, water and basic services, the organisation said.
South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, has struggled with civil war, widespread poverty and entrenched corruption since gaining independence in 2011.
The United Nations has warned of a possible return to full scale civil war as a fragile power sharing agreement between President Salva Kiir and his long time rival Riek Machar has deteriorated over the past year.
While much of the recent fighting has centred on Jonglei, the UN said on Sunday that rising violence in Abiemnom near the Sudan border had killed dozens of civilians and several local officials.
