Driving into the deep forests of Western Equatoria some 9 kilometers from Tambura town, a team of civilian, military and police peacekeepers from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) are on an assignment to investigate a recent upsurge of armed conflict in the villages surrounding greater Tambura.

Despite the verdant surroundings, the scars of fear and devastation are obvious to the visiting team who recorded more than 50 houses burnt to the ground and at least three people reported to be killed.

“Over 50 houses are burnt but there are more we haven’t been able to reach,” says Leticia Mariano, a Human Rights Officer with the UN peacekeeping mission.

The violence-affected area is deserted, as local communities living here ran for their lives to neighbouring villages or the bush when unidentified gunmen stormed in, firing into the air and destroying their homes and farms.

Mother of eight, Martha Mabeko, survives on the remnants of cassava she can collect, still reliving the traumatic incident but compelled to move about despite her fear because her children need food.

“It was a Sunday afternoon when we were surprised by heavy gunfire and saw our homes being burned down,” she recounts. “We were terrified but managed to escape deep into the bushes with our children. They killed two people. I couldn’t identify the armed group; neither can I tell you which direction they came from. Everybody was panicked and all we could think of was how can we save our children.”

Similarly, Hellena John managed to escape from her village to the internally displaced persons camp in Tambura town. However, life has not been easy following the attack. Hellena has nowhere to shelter and holds a deep fear and helplessness at the lack of nutritious food for her children.