South Sudan’s civil war has since 2013 threatened the protection of civilians, which UN peacekeepers are mandated to ensure. One aspect represented a new challenge, due to its scale and rapid onset: more than 200,000 civilians fled to UN bases across the country, seeking protection. This amounted to more than a tenth of all internally placed people at one stage. The response by the UN helped to save many lives, but created further dilemmas. Real problems were also experienced, with attacks on these ‘sites’ and on peacekeepers. This article analyses the significance of the phenomenon and how it unfolded.