Insecurity dominates South Sudan Governors’ Forum agenda
By James Gatdet Dak
March 12, 2008 (JUBA) – Insecurity issues in Southern Sudan have dominated discussions during the 5th Governors Forum which kicked off on Monday in Juba and expected to last for three days.
The Forum, which brought together all the governors of the ten Southern Sudan states and development partners, was organized by the Government of Southern Sudan in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in order to discuss and resolve challenges faced by the state governments in relations to decentralized system of governance and fiscal allocation of resources.
In his opening speech, the First Vice President of the Sudan and President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, urged the participants of the Forum to come up with resolutions and recommendations on the issues to be discussed in the agenda.
The Speakers of the ten Southern Sudan Legislative Assemblies also conducted their 3rd Speakers Forum concurrently with the Governors’ Forum.
In the Forum chaired by the Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, state governors expressed their dissatisfaction to the Government of Southern Sudan’s current practices on decentralization and fiscal allocation of budgets.
They complain of interference by GoSS in state administrative affairs and concentration of resources at the center, leaving the states with fewer resources for development.
“Our tails are still in Khartoum to get the GoSS budget because we are not yet independent nation but we have failed to control money collection and allow thieves to steal GoSS money without punishing them,” lamented Governor Bol Madut of Warap state.
Governor Dut also complained of corruption in his state, saying even names of domestic animals and children were put on pay list in addition to ghost names.
He said his attempts to eradicate corruption in the state failed.
“If you identify and remove ghost names from a certain Ministry they will appear again tomorrow in another Ministry,” Warap Governor continued.
He appealed to the Government of Southern Sudan to collectively devise a system with the state governments to fight and eradicate corruption in Southern Sudan.
Dut also accused his state judges of not carrying out their duties but taking sides in the sectional conflicts.
INSECURITY IN THE STATES
In their respective presentations at the Forum’s second session on Tuesday, state governors concentrated on insecurity issues in their states which they described as very challenging to development in all its aspects.
This insecurity situation was blamed on numerous factors that include tribal conflicts, armed civilians, Arab nomads, Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Ambororo nomads.
Governor of Eastern Equatoria state, Brigadier General Aloisius Emor Ojetuk, said the state was now free of LRA forces but blamed the current insecurity threats on cattle raiders and Dinka Bor IDPs in the state.
“Presently, an approximated 10,000 cattle of Dinka Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are causing conflicts between the pastoralists and agriculturalists, while these IDPs are reluctant to return to their home areas,” said governor Ojetuk.
He also blamed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for what he said was slow repatriation process.
Governor of Warap state, Lt. General Anthony Bol Madut said his state recently witnessed fierce clashes between different clans which left more than 50 people dead and many more wounded.
He blamed undisclosed intellectuals from the state for instigating the clashes between the Dinka sections of Akok and Luanykoch.
Governor of Jonglei state, Lt. Gen. Kuol Manyang Juk, said Bor town was in a situation of lawlessness before he took over governorship from his predecessor.
He said a number of government officials and patients admitted in the Bor hospital were killed by mob during clashes between Dinka Bor and Murle.
He partly blamed the Bor lawlessness to the police which he said was dominated by one ethnic group, assuring the Forum that he had already replaced the Bor town police with a neutral police force.
Governor Juk also said a group of Lou-Nuer carried out raid on Murle villages in recent days.
He said his state government’s security committee, which he chairs, passed a resolution ordering the SPLA forces in the state to carry out disarmament of the entire armed civil population in Jonglei state.
“We have already ordered the army and I hope they are now preparing themselves to start disarming the entire population,” declared Juk.
Governor of Central Equatoria state, Maj. Gen. Clement Wani Konga blamed the recent killings in Kajo-Keji County on disgruntled SPLA soldiers, saying 14 people captured during the attacks on Kajo-Keji are from tribes of Southern Sudan, not LRA of Uganda, and they included three from Lokoya tribe, two from Dinka tribe and nine from Murle tribe.
Governor of Lakes state, Lt. Gen. Daniel Awet Akot, said he was faced with a lot of murder cases as well as theft cases in his state, saying over one thousand (1,000) court sentences have been passed including death penalties.
He also blamed part of insecurity in the state on cattle raiders from Unity state who cross the state border to steal cattle in Lakes state.
Unity state governor, Brig. General Taban Deng Gai, generally blamed the current insecurity situation on proliferation of weapons in the hands of the civil population, saying previous efforts to collect the guns from the civil population in his state has not yielded the desired fruit.
He said the price of a gun illegally sold in the market is less than one hundred dollars in the state. “I believe somebody is smuggling in and supplying the state population with these weapons,” he warned.
Representative of the Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state warned of increasing attacks on the state population by the Misseriya tribe from Southern Sudan Kordufan, while the representative of Western Equatoria state registered the state government’s concern with the movement of Ambororo nomads in the state as well as the LRA forces along the Sudan-Congo border.
The Forum is expected to pass resolutions and recommendations on how to tackle such challenges.
(ST)