South Sudan cabinet passes a number of resolutions on insecurity

By James Gatdet Dak

January 8, 2009 (JUBA) – Southern Sudan’s semi-autonomous regional government held an extra-ordinary meeting on Wednesday and discussed the growing insecurity situation in the region.

The Council of Ministers passed a number of resolutions in the light of general insecurity situation, the random shootings and continuous murder of people in Juba town and the escalating attacks on the civil population by the Ugandan rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The Council also discussed resolutions passed by the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly two days ago on insecurity concerns in which the parliament accused the executive organ of not doing enough to contain the situation.

It resolved to investigate the Juba random shootings incident that led to the lost of lives, particularly the killing of four people in a single incident on the New Year’s Eve by unidentified armed men who reportedly claimed to be security personnel.

The cabinet passed another resolution calling on the concerned authorities to carry out searches for guns in all the residential areas in the town. It also resolved that SPLA soldiers who are not on duty in the town should keep their guns in the military barracks away from the residential areas.
It also resolved on the immediate need to empower the police force with the necessary communication and other equipment in order to function effectively and to fully take over the security role in Juba town and other towns and villages in the South.

The meeting resolved to seek a briefing by the Minister of Internal Affairs who is currently outside Southern Sudan to explain the causes of some insecurity concerns that fall within his jurisdiction for further resolutions.
The Council also resolved to direct the relevant authorities to effect the disarmament, demobilization and re-integration (DDR) of former combatants affected by the program so that they handover their guns to the authorities.

About seven thousand (7,000) South Sudanese former SAF soldiers who refused to redeploy to northern Sudan are confirmed to have been residing in Juba town with their guns. The Council urged them through their relevant authority to either join the DDR program or to sort out their fate amicably. More than 3,600 of similar force are also believed to be in Malakal town and another unspecified number in Wau town. “These raise serious security concerns,” officials say.

The cabinet also discussed the growing conflicts between pastoralist communities that move with their cattle in search for grazing lands and the local farming communities, particularly in Greater Equatoria region.
In order to consolidate peace and security among the communities, the Council also reiterated the Government’s policy to continue to disarm the civil population and to organize inter and intra community peace and reconciliation conferences in all the states of Southern Sudan.

On the escalating attacks on the civil population by the LRA in Southern Sudan, the Council reiterated its position to continue to deploy the SPLA forces to protect the civil populations.

LRA rebels have stepped up their attacks on civilians in Southern Sudan since the beginning of the joint military operations against them by Uganda and DR Congo in mid-December.

Officials say the rebels have spread into two bigger groups with some remaining in DR Congo where they continue to commit massive atrocities while another group has crossed back into Southern Sudan after their camps were attacked inside DR Congo last month.

The rebels have since carried out revenge attacks accusing the Government of Southern Sudan of allegedly involving in the joint military operations against its hideouts in the Garamba National Park in the north-eastern part of DR Congo – a charge the Government denies.

Southern Sudan parliamentarians said the rebels in the last two weeks alone killed more than fifty people and abducted nine in the last two days in Western Equatoria state.

“The number of people they killed or kidnapped has gone above 50,” explained Peter Bashir Bandi, Chairperson of the Specialized Committee on Culture and Information. “They loot and kill. They take them to the forest. None of the people they have taken to the forest has been found alive. They kill them.”

MP Bashir said his constituency, Maridi, has recently been targeted by the LRA. The state authorities say there is also growing fear in the state’s capital, Yambio, and people flee to other areas they perceive to be safer.
According to the UN News Center, 7,300 people have been displaced so far in the state.

MPs blamed the SPLA forces for not pursuing the rebels and rooting them out of Southern Sudan by force. “I am told that our military is not ready to face the LRA and the citizens are digging up guns they kept in the ground for their own defense,” Jimmy Wongo, an MP from the area said. “How the LRA can manage to abduct seven men and two women yesterday I don’t understand,” he added.

The Southern Sudan Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Martin Elia Lomuro, said officials had done everything to try to halt the killings. “We did not only close our borders, we supported also the regional initiative to control the LRA,” explained Lomuro.

“What is happening in Western Equatoria is very strange,” he added. “It is a serious matter of concern to both the Legislative Assembly and the executive.”

In Yei town, about 100 miles away from Juba, citizens had hard time sleeping on Wednesday night when residents of the outskirts of the town started to flee to the town center amid false alarm that the LRA rebels were coming to attack the town. “The panic started when a woman was beaten by her husband and she produced a very loud cry out, which caused the neighboring families to flee thinking it was the LRA that had attacked,” said one resident.

Parliamentarians in their Tuesday’s debate on the escalating LRA attacks said the deployed SPLA forces refused to fight the LRA because their welfare was not taken care of. It was alleged that the soldiers accused the politicians of pushing them to fight a proxy war against the LRA while their salaries are not paid to them.

Politicians argue that they allocate almost half of the whole Government’s budgets to the army every year which should cover all their salaries and other necessary services.

The Council noted what seems to be discontent in the army and resolved to seek for explanation from the newly appointed Minister for SPLA Affairs, on the causes of such discontent for further resolutions.
The Minister for SPLA Affairs is currently outside Southern Sudan on official duties.

(ST)