South Sudan opens first prisons training center
September 14, 2007 (JUBA) –Southern Sudan government has opened officially the first prisons training center on 11 September. Another training center will be opened in the capitale of the Lakes state, the UNPD said in a press statement.
The Lologo Regional Training Center was inaugurated at a ceremony that also saw the launch of the Prison Service training programme for 55O former soldiers of the Sudan People Liberation Army Officers (SPLA), who are being transferred from the army to join the Prison Service.
It is estimated that the Prison Service will receive up to 1,500 former combatants over the next six months.
In addition to re-orienting and training former combatants in a 3-month orientation course, the training center will also be used as the site for specialist training courses for the Prison Service. Courses offered will include training of trainers, welfare officers, medical officers and management training.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Director General of Southern Sudan Prison Service, Major General Agasio Akol Tong, noted that the main focus of the Prison Service was on human resource development which is meant to encourage improved and efficient service delivery by Prison Service personnel.
He acknowledged the support of the international community in developing the capacity of the Prison Service and noted that the service had been adversely affected by the war.
“UNDP is committed to supporting the building of effective and accountable governance and rule of law institutions including as a priority, the modernization and rapid expansion of the Prison Service,” said UNDP Head of Office, Mr. Jafet Enriquez.
He announced that the Lologo training center was one of two Prison centers that UNDP is constructing in Southern Sudan. The second Center will be located in Rumbek, Lakes States.
The establishment of the training center is a significant step in providing the Prison Service with capacity to accommodate the ranks of demobilised SPLA soldiers into the Prison Service as a further step towards implementing its training and capacity building programme.
The center has been constructed under UNDP’s Foundational Support to the Prisons Services of Southern Sudan Project and is jointly funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) of the Government of Canada and the UNDP. Training will be implemented by trainers from the Prison Service and the UNMIS Rule of Law/Corrections team.
The project comes as a forerunner to the wider strategy to rehabilitate the dilapidated infrastructure of the Prison Service that will be implemented under the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF). The main focus will be the renovation of existing Prison training facilities in two of the three regions in Southern Sudan.
(ST)