US government asks for voluntary disarmament in Jonglei
March 7, 2012 (BOR) – The United States Ambassador to South Sudan, Susan Page, said the American government is supporting voluntary disarmament in Jonglei state, which saw massive displacement of people in December and January as rival tribes attacked each others territories.
A massive disarmament campaign is due to begin 15 March according to the UN, although there are some reports that the process has already started. South Sudan’s government as warned that force will be used if arms are not handed over voluntarily.
“We are working on conflict mitigation side. We are encouraging the government to conduct voluntary disarmament”, said Ambassador Page on a visit to Bor on Wednesday.
Page visited, Bor, the capital of Jonglei in December last year, to see the extent of the humanitarian situation in the conflict affected zones. The UN estimate that over 120,000 people were affected by raids and counter raids either side of New Year.
Page also pledged that her government will continue running US supported projects in agriculture, education among others to help people in the area. She also assured state officials that the US would continue supporting road construction on a “small scale”. Jonglei has a notoriously poor road network, which has not improved significantly since the the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005.
CONFLICT MITIGATION PLAN RELEASED IN JONGLEI
Jonglei state launched a security plan including prevention and response mechanisms to address conflict issues affecting the communities, on Wednesday, 29 February according to the minister of law enforcement, Duop Lam.
The Jonglei state conflict mitigation stabilization initiative was launched on Tuesday, February 28, in a rally that was attended by the County Commissioners, chiefs and the local administrators.
Lam said the root causes of conflicts in Jonglei were: possession of illegal arms, water disputes, cattle raiding, lack of rule of law, and child abductions among others.
South Sudan is awash with small arms as a consequence of decades of civil war. Cattle raiding, which has always been common, has become more deadly in recent years with the increased use of automated weapons.
Well over a thousand members of the Luo Nuer and Murle ethnic groups have been killed over the last eight months in raids and counter raids.
“The document will address some of the challenges facing the law enforcement agencies and even rule of law sector”, said Lam.
He also said the document addressed how disputes during disarmament will be handled. Previous state-wide disarmament campaigns have not been successful as some groups do not perceive the South Sudanese army (SPLA) as a neutral body and fear that other tribes will not be as thoroughly disarmed leaving them vulnerable to attack.
The new Jonglei security plan was also supported by US who will help in its implementation, Lam said.
According to Lam, post-disarmament violence is also addressed in the plan. He said that the minister of justice in the national government is ready to deploy legal councilors and judges to the counties to deal with any issues of violence during the disarmament.
(ST)