Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The leadership of Greater Pibor Administrative Area called on the national government to declare nationwide disarmament to end the sub-national conflict.
They said the presence of arms in the hands of the youth has led to the continuous deadly cattle rustling, child abduction and revenge killings that threatens peace in the country.
According to the Deputy Chief Administrator of Greater Pibor Administrative Area, John Joseph Abulla, the several peace accords held between Greater Pibor Administrative Area and Jonglei State have not yielded any substantial outcome, hence, the national government needs to step up and remove arms from the youth to end conflict and cattle raid.
Speaking to The City Review in a telephone interview from Pibor, John said there is a need for general disarmament across the country to stop the gun-related crimes.
“We held a series of peace conferences so that our youth can lay down their weapons but yet they are still practicing cattle raid, child abduction and other gun-related issues. To ensure peace in the country is to carry out disarmament,” John said.
“The gun violence should not be treated like [it is] only for the Jonglei and Greater Pibor Administrative Area alone but the crime of the gun is spreading across the country. [This is why] you hear of cattle raid everywhere in the country,” he said.
The official said the presence of illicit arms in the hands of the youth was causing more senseless killing in the country
Jonglei State minister of information, John Manyuon, said disarmament is preferred by all the citizens because there are many guns in the hands of civilians leading to loss of lives and destruction of property.
“The implementation of the disarmament will not be possible because the capacity of the organised forces is less compared to the number of the civilians with guns and the implementation of the disarmament might come after the phase of the security agreement,” Manyoun said.
“The administration of Denay Jock is taking a step to see to his administration’s dialogue with his counterpart, GPAA, to seek opportunities on how we can as the people of the two sisterly areas live in peace,” he added.
According to a UN report, SPLA-led disarmament in northern Jonglei State, carried out between December 2005 and May 2006, led to the collection of 3,300 weapons.
In March 2012, the government launched another civilian disarmament exercise in Jonglei state and about 4,000 arms were handed over to uniformed forces in Bor, according to UNMISS.
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