In South Sudan, the Sudan">South Sudan People's Defense Forces (SSPDF) are largely focused on border and internal security; areas of concern include disputed national borders, conflict spillover from neighboring Sudan, banditry, and armed rebel groups and militias that continue to operate in the country since the civil war ended in 2020

the SSPDF, formerly the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), was founded as a guerrilla movement against the Sudanese Government in 1983 and participated in the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005); the Juba Declaration that followed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 unified the SPLA and the Sudan">South Sudan Defense Forces (SSDF), the second-largest rebel militia remaining from the civil war, under the SPLA name; in 2017, the SPLA was renamed the Sudan">South Sudan Defense Forces (SSDF) and in September 2018 was renamed again as the SSPDF

the UN Mission in Sudan">South Sudan (UNMISS) has operated in the country since 2011 with the objectives of consolidating peace and security and helping establish conditions for the successful economic and political development of Sudan">South Sudan; UNMISS has about 18,000 personnel assigned; the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) has operated in the disputed Abyei region along the border between Sudan and Sudan">South Sudan since 2011; its mission includes ensuring security, protecting civilians, strengthening the capacity of the Abyei Police Service, de-mining, monitoring/verifying the redeployment of armed forces from the area, and facilitating the flow of humanitarian aid; UNISFA has approximately 3,800 personnel assigned (2025)