New dress code policy announced in Sudan’s Lakes State
Feb 8, 2007 (RUMBEK) — Lake State Governor Daniel Awet has placed severe social codes on local civilians, including a dress code and prevention of men riding bicycles.
A dress code for females in Rumbek resurfaced on 27 January 2007, with local UNICEF staff member being detained at the police station for wearing “inappropriate” clothing, The Juba Post reported.
Men are no longer allowed to ride bicycles whenever they see a soldier. Two local security guards were stopped on 30 January and their bicycles seized.
After negotiations by the UN mission in Sudan (UNMIS) security, the bicycles were returned .
In another incident , SPLA soldiers were seen in Rumbek driving at high speed and using sticks to knock cyclists off their bicycles, an eye witness reported last Friday.
The eye witness said he had seen a group of SPLA soldiers driving at high speed in a Toyota pick -up mounted with a machine gun and using long bamboo poles to knock an elderly man off the bicycle, which he was riding at the side of the road.
Meanwhile, the Lakes State Minister for Information and Culture has expressed her deep concern about these infringements on human rights. The minister will pursue this matter with her fellow ministers and UNMIS will monitor, a UN report said.
(Juba Post)