Jonglei: army collects “thousands of guns” on first day of disarmament
March 14, 2012 (BOR) – Over 4,000 riffles were collected in Bor, the capital of Jonglei state, and thousands more in other towns and villages in the first day of disarmament, officials say.
The president of South Sudan, Salva Kiirr opened Operation Restore Peace in Jonglei on Monday.
Jonglei state has been subject to heightened ethnic violence between members of the Murle and Luo-Nuer, which the UN estimates has led to the displacement of 120,000 people.
At his address Kiir said “You have no tribes or home, your tribes and home is South Sudan.” Previous disarmament campaigns have led to ethnic groups claiming unequal disarmament has left them vulnerable to attack from their rivals
The Sudan People’s Liberation Army’s chief of general staff, James Hoth Mai has said that 150,000 troops have been deployed in Jonglei to carry out the exercise.
The UN and US have expressed their support for the disarmament but are concerned that it may not take place peacefully.
The young state of South Sudan is awash with arms after more than two decades of civil war, which ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005.
(ST)