South Sudan unveils plans for nationwide disarmament campaign

JUBA – South Sudan government has unveiled plans to resume a nationwide disarmament campaign after the graduation of the joint unified police and army that are provided for in the revitalized peace agreement.

A forceful disarmament campaign in August last year was halted after sparking deadly clashes between members of armed forces  army and civilians in Warrap state’s Tonj, leaving at least 200 people dead with the army being accounted for the latest number of casualties.

More than six years of a bloody civil war, coupled with an absence of a functioning government, have resulted in a community flushed with weapons. They use these weapons for protection or defense against cattle raids.

Speaking to Sudans Post in Juba on Tuesday, Police spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Daniel Justin Boulo said a massive disarmament will commence as soon as the unified forces are graduated.

“After the graduation of the forces, we will deploy them across the country and we will start massive disarmament on the same day and time all over the country,” Gen. Justin said in his office in Juba.

The senior police officer said the only immediate solution to end the deadly inter-communal violence in the country and cattle raids in restive Lakes, Warrap, Pibor, and Jonglei is a massive disarmament.

“The immediate solution is disarmament. It will start in some states especially in Lakes going to Tonj; we will have forces on the ground to disarm civilians,” he said.

He disclosed that the availability of guns at the hands of civilians is contributing to insecurity unveiling the government plan to address them.

“We have arms at the hands of the civilian population because we just came out of the war and we couldn’t control the arms during the war. So some of our citizens managed to acquired arms and use them aggressively against their neighbor such as raiding of cattle,” he said.

He further said the government will ensure that these communal fighting are addressed properly to mitigate further escalation of violence in the country.