Africa-Press – South-Sudan. Over 3000 IDPs who have called Hai Malakal Cemetery home for close to 10 years could be rendered ‘homeless’ if Juba City Council (JCC) goes ahead to execute the idea of decongesting graveyards.
The city council late this week sent out an eviction notice to people residing in various cemeteries in the city to leave or they get evicted by force.
City Mayor, Michael Lado Thomas Allah-Jabu said last Thursday that the plan is afoot to decongest the graveyards without revealing any resettlement plans or when the eviction process will take effect.
“Hai Malakal cemetery is full of people not less than 3,000 in number and some of them are living in the tombs. They tend not to fear the souls of the dead. So, that is something shameful and it is already in our plan. We are going to work on it,” he said.
“We going to remove those people but we are not going to tell you when we are going to do it because we are still planning.”
Allah-Jabu noted that those were IDPs who were displaced by war in 2013 and 2016, but could not return to their homes.
“It is worth mentioning that most of our people who are staying in cemeteries in Hai Malakal Cemetery and other cemeteries within the City of Juba were affected by war which happened between 2013 and 2016 and up to now some of them did not return,” he said.
The city council had been running robust plans like widening roads by demolishing structures erected along the road to elevate Juba life to its standards – a city.
Concerted efforts
In March 2022, Allah-Jabu asked residents to adhere to policies to make the city more conducive to the impact of climate change.
He promised that his administration would build roads, remove solid and liquid wastes, and ensure citizens in Juba are secure.
“You have to cooperate with us, especially when we mark the road. You cooperate with us, remove the structure if at all the structure encroached into the road,” Allah-Jabu said.
“There are a lot of criminals nowadays called niggers. They are killing themselves and killing innocent people. The Juba City authorities want to declare war on them.”
He stressed that they were working hard to pass the environmental bill into law to prevent environmental pollution caused by oil exploration, deforestation, and land clearance for settlement and agriculture.
The environmental bill is expected to help in punishing polluters according to the chairperson of the standing specialized committee on environment and forestry, at the National Transitional Legislative Assembly, Hellen Lukurnyang.
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