Angelina Teny says selling of arms by security forces to civilians constitutes ‘a national security threat’

JUBA – South Sudan’s defense and veteran affairs minister and chairperson of SPLM-IO National Committee for Security and Defense, Angelina Jany Teny, has accused soldiers from different South Sudan security institutions of selling arms to civilians, something she is a national security threat.

Speaking during the opening of the High-Level Workshop on Weapons and Ammunition Management in Juba on Thursday, Teny said the availability of firearms at hands of civilians has greatly contributed to the instability of the country.

“We have identified challenges and one of the most serious challenges we have is the issue of these arms in the hands of civilians and arms in the hands of communities and we have decided to distinguish the two from one another and when we say communities, communities are youths who are organized in a way that has become a very serious national security threat,” she said.

“Most of the small arms or light weapons that are in the hands of civilians including the ammunition, they don’t buy from outside, they are internal and this is also something we need to keep in our mind which mean we in organized forces must really take stock and see how we are managing this small arms and light weapons,” she added.

She said the proliferation of light weapons has continued to play a central role in initiating, exacerbating, and sustaining armed conflict, pervasive violence, and acts of crime.

“Most of the killing and security incidents and things that are preventing stability in our country as do with inter-communal conflict which is definitely the work of the police and the rest of us come in to support the police,” she said.