SPLM-IO appoints new inspector general of police
May 10, 2016 (JUBA) – A new Inspector General of Police for the armed opposition faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) has been appointed to head the South Sudan National Police Service (IO) (SSNPS-IO), pending joint integrated deployments for the top police command in the country.
General Lam replaced 1st Lt. Gen. Simon Jok Gatwech, who served as the inspector general of the opposition’s police force in the bush for the last two years of conflict.
The outgoing inspector general during the handing over occasion to the new police chief welcomed him to the new assignment.
“Today I am glad to hand over this position to my brother [General] Yien,” he said, in the handing over process conducted on Tuesday at the residence of the first vice president at Jebel Kujur [Kerek].
General Lam – his successor – a lawyer with a master degree, had also in the past served in the police force as instructor in police academy in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, before the independence of South Sudan in July 2011.
In a statement broadcasted on South Sudan Television (SSTV) on Tuesday, he commended his predecessor for leading the police force before the signing of the peace agreement.
He added the occasion marked the beginning of the implementation of the security arrangements in the police force, vowing to actively play a leading role in the process.
“This marks the kickoff of the implementation of the security arrangements for the police force and golden opportunity for the security sector reforms,” he said.
General Lam further added that he will cooperate with his counter-parts in the other police force in the previous government in the process of implementing the reforms.
South Sudan National Police Service is structurally under the ministry of interior, an institution run by the SPLM-IO in accordance with the power sharing deal between rival peace partners, in the peace agreement signed in August 2015.
The new minister interior, General Alfred Ladu Gore, has not yet reshuffled the police’s top command in the ministry.
There will be a combined police force of 3,000 in total, 1,500 from each side of the former warring parties to provide security for the national capital, Juba.
Each side will also deploy 400 police personnel to other state capitals and major towns such as Bor, Malakal, Bentiu, among others.
Also, the peace agreement has provided for two separate armies, with separate commanders-in-chief and separate chiefs of general staff for the much period of the two and a half years of the transitional government, pending reforms and elections in the country.
While President Salva Kiir is the commander-in-chief of the SPLA, his first deputy, Riek Machar, is the commander-in-chief of the SPLA-IO.
There are two chiefs of general staff in the country, in accordance with the agreement, with General Paul Malong Awan, as chief of general staff of the SPLA and General Simon Gatwech Dual, as chief of general staff of the SPLA-IO. Both of them are based in Juba, with separate headquarters.
The two co-national armies are expected to maintain their separate structures and separate administrations throughout the country until when the process of reunification is done during the period of transition.
(ST)