Expert urges formation of anti-riot police unit to mitigate communal violence

JUAB – A South Sudanese political expert, Abraham Kuol Nyuon is calling on the unity government to establish anti-riot police units to prevent combat and eradicate communal violence in the country.

Speaking to Sudans Post this morning, Kuol, a professor of political science at the University of Juba, said the government should establish an anti-civil disobedient or anti-riot unit, a police force that will be able to deal with people involved in communal violence.

“These police need to be equipped with a lot of equipment and things like helicopter gunships so they will be able to rush to the scene at specific periods of time to rescue those people who are in trouble,” Kuol said.

Wani Michael, Executive Director of Okay Africa Foundation called on the government to improve the security situation in the country to be able to mitigate cattle-related conflict.  

“Inter-communal violence is on the rise and the government must do something about it. Off course issues originate around providing security to the communities and engaging the communities in communal dialogue,” Michael said.

Michael stressed the need to establish community policing to reduce social disorder in the societies.

“We should also engage in community policing whereby communities involved in security matters are able to work to keep the areas stable,” he said.

Inter-communal fighting has been on the rise across South Sudan. It is often triggered by cattle raids and child abductions, and heightened by ethnic tensions and revenge attacks.

In the first quarter of 2020, it was the main source of violence affecting civilians, having led to 658 deaths, 452 injuries, 592 abductions and 65 cases of sexual violence.

Between January and May 2020, UNMISS recorded 415 violent incidents between communities, up from 129 during the same period in 2018.

In January 2021, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir said his government will no longer deploy security forces to intervene when inter-communal fighting breaks out in Jonglei state and the Pibor Administrative Area, the scene of repeated deadly clashes.