Security Council Resolution 2802 (2025) [on Extension of the Mandate of the Un Interim Security Force for Abyei (Unisfa) Until 15 Nov. 2026]

S/RES/2802(2025)View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A document of the Security Council, under agenda item 217Reports of the Secretary-General on the Sudan and South Sudan, published in 2025.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

3 entities

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 topics

Abyei (Sudan)Demilitarized Zones Peacekeeping Operations South Sudan Sudan

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2026.

2026S/2026/378Situation in Abyei report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

73 operative paragraphs

Decides to extend until 15 November 2026 the mandate of UNISFA as set out in paragraph 2 of resolution 1990 (2011) and acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, further decides to extend until 15 November 2026 the tasks of UNISFA as set out in paragraph 3 of resolution 1990 (2011), and expresses its intent to consider further renewal of the mission based on demonstrable progress by Sudan and South Sudan, while reaffirming that any decision regarding the Mission’s future will remain subject to the Council’s determination, and that such progress should include efforts to

Within their respective purviews, urge all unauthorized armed forces and armed elements to withdraw from the Abyei area, and take all necessary steps to achieve its full demilitarization, including through disarmament programs as necessary;

Resume and document Joint Political and Security Mechanism (JPSM) meetings, including dates, participation, and outcomes of the meetings;

Establish the Abyei Joint Security Police, including recruitment, training, and deployment numbers, and establish the temporary administrative and security arrangements by September 2026;

Issue visas to allow for UNISFA’s prompt deployment of 640 police personnel, including 148 individual police and corrections officers and three formed police units and to support personnel critical for the mandate of UNISFA; and

Support the prompt appointment of a civilian Deputy Head of Mission;

Requests that the Secretary-General provide semestrial updates to the Council on progress against these benchmarks consistent with paragraphs 35 and 36 and signals the Council’s intention to withdraw or reconfigure the mission should involved actors make no substantial progress;

Decides to extend until 15 November 2026 UNISFA’s mandate modification set forth in resolution 2024 (2011) and paragraph 1 of resolution 2075 (2012), which provides for UNISFA’s support to the JBVMM, with future support contingent upon the JBVMM’s full operationalization and sustained cooperation by the host states and further decides that UNISFA shall continue to implement that mandate and tasks in accordance with its prior resolutions, including 2760 (2024) and this resolution;

Determines that both parties should demonstrate measurable progress on border demarcation, including through:

UNISFA and JBVMM Patrols: Achieve standing clearance and full freedom of movement for all air and ground patrols, preventing restrictions on JBVMM movement beyond the SDBZ,

JBVMM Team Sites: Support operationalizing the team site in Abu Qussa/Wunkur, and calls upon South Sudan to resolve the challenges with JBVMM’s return to Gok Machar, South Sudan, and team sites Safaha/Kiir Adem and Sumayah/War Abar,

JPSM: Provide clear guidance to JBVMM by convening two meetings of the JPSM, and ensuring conclusions of meetings are widely disseminated,

Safe Demilitarized Border Zone (SDBZ): Immediately withdraw from the SDBZ as both parties committed to do in the 28–29 October 2020 JPSM, and to provide notification of such withdrawal to UNISFA for verification,

Border Crossing Corridors: Operationalize the reopening of border crossing corridors per the decisions of the 28–29 October 2020 and 8–9 September 2021 JPSM meetings, and together with UNISFA verify their functioning and free movement across the border,

Border Demarcation: Develop a detailed work plan and budget for demarcation discussions, including negotiations on the disputed areas within the framework of the signed agreements, and hold two meetings of the Joint Demarcation Committee,

National Monitors: Maintain deployment of national monitors to participate in JBVMM operational activities;

Decides to maintain the authorized troop ceiling of 3,250 until 15 November 2026;

Maintains the authorized police ceiling at 640 police personnel, including 148 individual police and corrections officers and three formed police units, reiterates its call on the United Nations, the Office of the Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, and the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General; and the African Union, particularly the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), to intensify efforts to engage Sudan at the highest levels to promptly issue visas for civilian personnel and the 640 police personnel in order to adequately address increasing crime-related security threats in Abyei and ensure appropriate staffing for mandated political tasks, and expresses its intention to reduce the authorized police ceiling as the Abyei Police Service is gradually established and providing effective law enforcement throughout the Abyei Area;

Strongly urges Sudan and South Sudan to provide full support to UNISFA in the implementation of its mandate, and prompt and full deployment of UNISFA personnel, including police, as well as their equipment, immediately removing all unauthorized forces by the 2011 agreement from Abyei and any other obstacles that hinder the implementation of UNISFA’s mandate to protect civilians in Abyei, ensuring the mission’s full freedom of movement, and facilitating UNISFA’s uninterrupted provision of food, medicine, and other supplies to its personnel;

Urges stronger cooperation between Sudan and South Sudan in support of peace, security and stability, including with regard to the Juba Peace Agreement and the high-level discussions between Sudan and South Sudan in August 2021, and calling for the resumption of the JPSM meetings, and encouraging such meetings and those of other joint mechanisms take place on a consistent basis;

Urgently requests Sudan and South Sudan to authorize the use of Athony airport, including by providing the necessary flight clearances, and to facilitate basing arrangements for UNISFA and notes that the utilization of Athony airport will reduce UNISFA’s transport costs and logistical challenges, facilitate MEDEVAC, official travel, and air cargo needs for the Mission and enhance safety and security for UNISFA personnel in line with resolution 2518 (2020), and further calls upon all parties to fully adhere to their obligations called for in its resolution 2518 (2020) and under the SOFAs;

Requests the Secretary-General, Member States, and all parties to continue to take all appropriate measures to ensure the safety, security and freedom of movement of UNISFA’s personnel with unhindered and immediate access throughout Abyei, in line with resolution 2518 (2020), notes with concern the grave risks violations of the SOFAs can present to the safety and security of United Nations personnel serving in peacekeeping operations, and requests the Secretary-General to implement the provisions of resolution 2589 (2021) for establishing accountability for crimes against peacekeepers;

Stresses its request to the Secretary-General to make urgent progress to appoint a civilian Deputy Head of Mission for UNISFA and add additional civilian staff within existing resources to further facilitate liaison between and engagement with the parties in a manner consistent with the Agreement on Temporary Arrangements for the Administration and Security of the Abyei Area of June 2011, including agreement to establish the Abyei Police Service;

Urges continued progress towards establishing temporary administrative and security arrangements that are agreed to by the parties;

Encourages the African Union, AUHIP, and the UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to intensify their mediation roles and coordinating efforts with Sudan and South Sudan to establish temporary administrative and security arrangements for Abyei and facilitate the full implementation of the 2011 Agreement on the Temporary Arrangements for the Administration and Security of the Abyei Area and the 2012 Cooperation Agreements between Sudan and South Sudan, to achieve a political solution to the status of Abyei, further encourages UNISFA to increase coordination with the African Union, AUHIP and the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on reconciliation, community sensitization, and political peace processes, and reiterates its requests for the Secretary-General to consult with relevant parties on enhancing the role played by the Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa to support the above mentioned efforts;

Urges renewed efforts to determine conclusively the SDBZ centreline on the ground, and reiterates that the centreline of the SDBZ in no way prejudices the current or future legal status of the border, ongoing negotiations on the disputed and claimed areas, and demarcation of the borders;

Underscores that UNISFA’s protection of civilians mandate as set out in paragraph 3 of resolution 1990 (2011) includes taking the necessary actions, without prejudice to the responsibilities of the relevant authorities, to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence, irrespective of the source of such violence, and in that regard underlines that peacekeepers are authorized to use all necessary means to continue to ensure effective, timely, and dynamic protection of civilians under threat of physical violence within existing resources, which includes the use of force when required, in accordance with mission mandates, the United Nations Charter and other applicable international law, and stresses the importance of continued and further engagement by senior mission leadership, with a view to ensuring that all mission components and all levels of the chain of command are properly informed of, trained for, and involved in the mission’s protection of civilians mandate and their relevant responsibilities; and emphasises the need to prioritise deployments to high-risk areas, strengthen early warning and community engagement, maintain key civilian capacities, promote information integrity and counter dissemination of false and falsified information through local communications in line with the Secretary-General’s strategic review recommendations; and commending UNISFA’s efforts in that regard;

Condemns in the strongest terms the continued presence inside Abyei of armed actors, including the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces, other South Sudan security service personnel and the Rapid Support Forces, in violation of the 2011 Agreement, and strongly urges them to withdraw from the demilitarized area immediately and without preconditions, and further reiterates, in accordance with the 2011 Agreement and relevant resolutions, in particular resolution 1990 (2011) and resolution 2046 (2012), that the Abyei Area shall be demilitarized from any forces, as well as other armed elements, other than UNISFA and the Abyei Police Service;

Reaffirms that UNISFA may undertake weapons confiscation and destruction in the Abyei Area as authorized under resolution 1990 (2011), consistent with its mandate and within its existing capabilities, in coordination with the signatories of the June 2011 Agreement on the Temporary Arrangements for the Administration and Security of the Abyei Area, the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee (AJOC), and the Misseriya and Ngok Dinka communities and consistent with the previous AJOC decision to establish the Area as a “weapons free area”, calls upon Sudan and South Sudan, the AJOC, and the Misseriya and Ngok Dinka communities and all other groups to extend full cooperation to UNISFA in this regard;

Encourages UNISFA to bolster initiatives to support community dialogue and efforts by the Misseriya, Ngok Dinka, Twic Dinka and all other communities within existing resources, such as local peace committees and follow-up mechanisms from the April 2025 Ngok-Twic accord, including women and youth organizations, to strengthen intercommunal relationships and facilitate stability and reconciliation in the Abyei Area, and invites UNISFA to coordinate with the Juba appointed administration in Abyei, the Misseriya administration in Muglad, and the Khartoum-appointed administration, using appropriate civilian expertise, to maintain stability, foster intercommunal reconciliation, and facilitate the return of displaced persons to their villages and the delivery of services;

Welcomes the United Nations’ development of an integrated Rule of Law Support Strategy in close coordination with the host states and communities, and strongly encourages all parties to cooperate with UNISFA for the establishment of the Abyei Police Services; requests UNISFA to collaborate with the United Nations Country Teams in Sudan and South Sudan, in consultation with the host governments and the local communities, to engage with the local communities on peacebuilding initiatives, including conflict prevention and mitigation and rule of law, and to implement an integrated Rule-of-Law Support Strategy for Amiet Market that coordinates police, civilian liaison and community protection structures to address rising criminal activity;

Urges Sudan and South Sudan to take steps to implement and facilitate confidence-building measures among the respective communities in the Abyei Area, providing for the full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation of women and inclusion of youth, regardless of area of origin, at all stages, including through reconciliation processes at the grass-roots level as well as through ongoing efforts of non-governmental organizations and by fully supporting UNISFA’s efforts in promoting community dialogue, further urges Sudan and South Sudan to consider the support of the UN and African Union to help facilitate dialogue amongst all parties in Abyei, and urges Sudan and South Sudan to take forward the joint investigation, announced in 2020, to hold perpetrators accountable for violence in the Kolem area of Abyei in January 2020, and hold accountable those responsible for violence in Mabok in April 2020 and Dunguop in May 2021;

Expresses great concern that women’s representation remains minimal among the leadership of local peace committees, recognizes the Juba-appointed Chief Administrator’s and Khartoum-appointed Chief Administrator’s public support for women’s empowerment, calls upon all parties to promote the full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation of women, including at all levels of intercommunity dialogue and peacebuilding efforts, to ensure a credible, and legitimate process, and requests UNISFA to integrate women into peace discussions, as well as facilitate, in partnership with the UNCT, access to local women’s organizations that provide services and support to women, and to assist these efforts through, inter alia, the provision of gender and child protection advisers to Abyei where their expertise is urgently needed;

Welcomes UNISFA’s continued efforts, in close coordination with the Misseriya and Ngok Dinka communities, to strengthen the capacities of Community Protection Committees in order to assist with management of law and order processes in Abyei, while ensuring the humane and dignified treatment of suspects and other detainees, and to continue engaging with both Sudan and South Sudan on this issue;

Calls upon all parties to cooperate fully with the findings and recommendations following the Abyei Area Joint Investigation and Inquiry Committee’s investigation into the killing of a UNISFA peacekeeper and the Ngok Dinka Paramount Chief, following the release of findings by the AU Commission, welcomes the 24 March 2015 AUPSC press statement requesting the AU Commission to engage the parties on the findings and recommendations, and looks forward to the release of the African Union Commission’s report on the killing of the Ngok Dinka chief, as agreed to by the traditional leaders, and for the report to be used as a basis for reconciliation between the communities, bearing in mind the need to promote stability and reconciliation in the Abyei Area;

Calls upon all Member States, in particular Sudan and South Sudan, to provide for the free, unhindered and expeditious movement, to and from Abyei and throughout the SDBZ, of all personnel, as well as equipment, provisions, supplies and other goods, including vehicles, aircraft, and spare parts, which are for the exclusive and official use of UNISFA, encourages the United Nations to minimize the adverse impact of the Sudan conflict and the rainy season on mission supply chains and ensure continued rotation of troops and equipment through alternate corridors, further calls on Sudan and South Sudan to support and cooperate with the United Nations in this regard, including the removal of related bureaucratic and administrative restrictions, which hamper UNISFA operations and the delivery of humanitarian assistance across, in, and out of the Abyei Area, in line with obligations under the SOFA;

Demands that all parties involved allow, in accordance with international law, including applicable international humanitarian law, all humanitarian personnel full, safe and unhindered access to civilians in need of assistance and all necessary facilities for their operations, consistent with United Nations guiding principles of humanitarian assistance, including humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence, and protect UN and associated humanitarian personnel, including national and locally recruited personnel, in line with Security Council resolution 2730 (2024);

Encourages UNISFA to continue supporting the Abyei UN Joint Programme Initiative of the Sudan and South Sudan UN Country Teams;

Encourages Sudan and South Sudan to continue to facilitate the deployment of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) to ensure freedom of movement, as well as the identification and clearance of mines in the Abyei Area and SDBZ;

Strongly urges that all parties cease all forms of violence, human rights violations and abuses, violations of international humanitarian law, and violations of other international law, as applicable, committed against civilians, including women and children, and bring perpetrators of such abuses or violations to justice;

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that effective monitoring of human rights violations and abuses, and violations of international humanitarian law, including but not limited to those involving sexual violence against women and girls and violations and abuses committed against women and children is carried out, and reiterates its call upon Sudan and South Sudan to extend their full cooperation to the Secretary-General to this end, including by swiftly issuing visas to the concerned United Nations personnel;

Requests the Secretary-General to implement the following activities in the planning and conduct of UNISFA’s operations within the limits of the mandate and area of operation and in line with existing United Nations guidelines and regulations:

Strengthening the implementation of a mission-wide early warning and response strategy, as part of a coordinated approach to information gathering, incident tracking and analysis, monitoring, verification, early warning and dissemination, and response mechanisms, including response mechanisms to threats and attacks against civilians that may involve violations and abuses of human rights or violations of international humanitarian law, as well as to prepare for further potential attacks on United Nations personnel and facilities, and ensure conflict analysis takes into account the needs and perspectives of women and girls and is mainstreamed across all early warning and conflict prevention efforts;

Encouraging the use of confidence-building, facilitation, mediation, community engagement, and strategic communications to support the mission’s protection, information gathering, and situational awareness activities;

Prioritizing mission mobility and active patrolling to better execute its mandate in areas of emerging protection risks and emerging threats of violence, including but not limited to violence against women and girls, including in remote locations, ensuring the patrolling is informed by the needs of women and girls, and prioritize deployment of forces with appropriate air and land assets, to support the mission’s protection, information gathering, and situational awareness activities;

Reiterating the importance of UNISFA’s peacekeeping-intelligence and analysis capacities, including surveillance and monitoring capacities, within the limits of its mandate;

Improving logistics in mission, in particular by taking all necessary measures to secure UNISFA’s logistical supply routes;

Implementing effective casualty and medical evacuation procedures, including the Standard Operating Procedure on Decentralized Casualty Evacuation, as well as deploying enhanced medical evacuation capacities;

Taking active and effective measures to provide the planning and functioning of UNISFA’s safety and security facilities and arrangements;

Securing long-term rotation schemes for critical capabilities as well as exploring innovative options to promote partnerships between equipment, troop- and police-contributing countries;

Continuing to consider the environmental impacts of mission’s operations when fulfilling its mandated tasks and, in this context, to manage them as appropriate and in accordance with applicable and relevant General Assembly resolutions and United Nations rules and regulations, noting the United Nations Department of Operational Support’s Strategy: “Way Forward: Environment Strategy for Peace Operations 2023–2030”, which emphasizes good stewardship of resources and a positive legacy of the mission, and identifies the goal of transition to renewable energy, reduction in waste generation, water use and electricity, consumption in missions to enhance safety and security, save costs, offer efficiencies and benefit the mission;

Ensuring that any support provided to non-United Nations security forces is provided in strict compliance with the Human Rights Due Diligence Policy, including the monitoring and reporting on how support is used and on the implementation of mitigating measures;

Prioritizing mandated protection activities in decisions about the use of available capacity and resources within the mission, according to resolution 1894 (2009);

Strengthening its sexual violence against women and girls prevention and response activities in line with resolution 2467 (2019), including by assisting the parties with activities consistent with resolution 2467 (2019), and by ensuring that risks of violence against women and girls are included in the Mission’s data collection and threat analysis and early warning systems by engaging in an ethical manner with survivors and victims of violence against women and girls, and women’s organizations;

Strengthening and diversifying UNISFA’s community engagement trainings, public information and awareness campaigns, and reporting mechanisms on sexual exploitation and abuse;

Emphasizing the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) and all resolutions addressing women, peace, and security, taking fully into account considerations of all women and girls as a crosscutting issue throughout its mandate, including through the engagement with local women’s networks and civil society organizations, and reaffirming the importance of uniformed and civilian gender advisors, gender focal points in all mission components and expertise and capacity strengthening in executing the mission mandate in a manner responsive to women and girls;

Taking fully into account child protection as a cross-cutting issue;

Implementing youth, peace and security priorities under resolutions 2250 (2015), 2419 (2018) and 2535 (2020);

Implementing peacekeeping performance requirements under resolutions 2378 (2017) and 2436 (2018);

Implementing the United Nations zero-tolerance policy on serious misconduct, sexual exploitation and abuse, and sexual harassment, and all actions under resolution 2272 (2016), and to report to the Security Council if such cases of misconduct occur;

Requests troop- and police-contributing countries to fully implement relevant provisions of resolution 2538 (2020) and all other relevant resolutions on reducing barriers to and increasing women’s participation at all levels and in all positions in peacekeeping, including by ensuring safe, enabling working environments for women in peacekeeping operations, including by seeking to increase the number of women in UNISFA in line with resolution 2538 (2020), as well as to ensure the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women, and integrate responsive approaches in all aspects of operations, including integrating approaches that are responsive to the differentiated needs and role of women in all aspects of operations, including by ensuring safe working environments;

Urges troop- and police-contributing countries to continue taking appropriate action to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse, including vetting of all personnel, and pre-deployment and in-mission awareness training, and to ensure full accountability in cases of such conduct involving their personnel, including through timely survivor-centred investigations of all allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse, to hold perpetrators accountable, and to repatriate units when there is credible evidence of widespread or systemic sexual exploitation and abuse by those units, appropriate disciplinary measures, and reporting to the United Nations fully and promptly on actions undertaken;

Notes the Secretary-General’s efforts to ensure close cooperation among United Nations missions and envoys in the region, including UNISFA, the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS), his Personal Envoy for the Sudan and his Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa;

Reporting and Consultation

Requests the Secretary-General to provide evidence-based and data-driven analysis, strategic assessments and frank advice to the Security Council, using the data collected and analyzed through the Comprehensive Planning and Performance Assessment System (CPAS) and other strategic planning and performance measurement tools, taking into account performance of all uniformed and civilian personnel, to describe the mission’s impact, to facilitate as necessary a re-evaluation of the mission composition and mandate based on realities on the ground, and further, to continue to inform it of progress in implementing UNISFA’s mandate, and in combined written reports provided on 1 May 2026 and 15 October 2026, and include reporting on:

engagement by the African Union and AUHIP on political mediation of the Abyei dispute and Sudan and South Sudan border issues, and recommendations on the most appropriate framework, structure or organizational mandate for the region to provide support to the parties that will enable further progress in these areas,

the efforts deployed by the Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa to support the African Union and help the parties to establish temporary administrative and security arrangements for Abyei and to achieve a political solution to the status of Abyei, progress in implementing any steps taken per paragraph 3,

progress to increase issuance of visas for the police appointment of a civilian Deputy Head of Mission, usage of Athony airport, the issuance of visas to support implementation of the mandate, the establishment of the Abyei Police Services, resumption of JPSM meetings, and with regards to the withdrawal of all unauthorized forces and other security service personnel,

results of human rights monitoring as requested in paragraph 30 including information, analysis, and data on violations and abuses of human rights, including but not limited to those involving sexual violence against women and girls and other violations and abuses committed against women and children, and steps that have been taken in line with paragraph 31 (l),

a summary of progress on the Abyei UN Joint Programme Initiative, results of a joint consultation with Sudan and South Sudan, and relevant stakeholders, including the local community, to develop clear and realistic benchmarks and indicators for a responsible, successful and durable mission transition, which should prioritize the safety and security of civilians living in Abyei and account for the stability of the region,

a summary of actions taken to improve mission performance and address performance challenges including lapses in leadership, national caveats that negatively affect mandate implementation effectiveness, and demanding operational environments, including with regards to the adverse effects of environmental shocks, including with regards to droughts and floods,

overall Mission performance, the Mission’s implementation of the Integrated Peacekeeping Performance and Accountability Framework (IPPAF) and CPAS; including information on undeclared caveats, declining to participate in or undertake patrols and their impact on the mission, and how the reported cases of under-performance are addressed;

Requests the Secretary-General to report, no later than August 31, 2026, on the security situation activities undertaken by authorities in Sudan and South Sudan to assess demonstrable progress towards achieving the benchmarks outlined in operative paragraph 1, and to provide a comprehensive assessment of the security implications of any potential drawdown which the Security Council will consider when assessing the mission’s configuration and expresses its intent to consider any further renewal of the mission beyond its expiration on 15 November 2026 based on demonstrable progress by the Sudanese and South Sudanese authorities;

Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.