Sudan’s Juba curfew to be lifted after Christmas
Dec 21, 2006 (JUBA) — Southern Sudan government announced that Juba curfew would be lifted after Christmas, after fears that SPLA soldiers protest for salary arrears could lead to insecurity in the autonomous part of the Sudan.
Luka Biyong, minister of presidential affairs in the government of southern Sudan, told the Juba Post that the curfew will be partially lifted in the coming days and would be lifted after Christmas.
A dusk-to-dawn curfew was subsequently imposed on Juba in an emergency meeting held by the South Sudan president Salva Kiir soon after a violent demonstration of the SPLA soldiers in the Joint Integrated Units.
The 15 December protest was motivated by non-payment of salaries between March and December 2005 by the federal government.
Biyong disclosed that the government formed a committee to investigate the causes of the recent incidents.
The SPLA has detained six officers involved in Juba protest. Spokesman Major General Kuol Diem Kuol told Reuters that the six officers, along with 23 non-commissioned officers, were being taken for questioning to garrisons in the southern town of Yei.
The Southern Sudan government justified the curfew saying the rioters’ solders were influenced by outside factors while the SPLM clearly said some quarters attempted to exploit Juba incident and to present the southern Sudan government as unable to administrate the autonomous region.
(ST)