Fishermen In Malakal Complain Of Insecurity

24 November 2010 – (Malakal) – Fishermen in Malakal, Upper Nile state are complaining of poor security situation in the region threatening their fishing activities.

SRS spoke to some fishermen in Malakal on Tuesday. William Kur Ajak, one of the fishermen said that security has deteriorated in the recent years.

[William Kur Ajak]: “Fishing in Malakal is not like it used to be in previous years. We have a lot of problems among them the poor security situations. In the previous years fishing was good, but now we have tribalism. This is one of the problems. In the past, fishing activities were open. People would go far to bring fish from Ataar, Pangak and Tunja. The fishermen used to be busy with their work without any interference from anyone. But because of insecurity, every thing is spoiled; our work has been limited to a very small area, only in Malakal where there is security.”

Samuel James Nejack, also a fisherman called on the government to tackle the insecurity concerns.

[Samuel James]: “Insecurity is one of the problems making our work very difficult. We hope that our government especially the government of Upper Nile state helps us in our work by providing us with security because insecurity is our only problem.”

However, the state security adviser Mr. Gabriel Tot says that former renegade general George Athor is to blame for the insecurity.

[Gabriel Tot]: “It is true what the people are complaining about and its one of the challenges. It started when General George Athor defected from the SPLA because before his defection from the SPLA, the security situation was not bad between Jonglei and Upper Nile state. Before the security was ok because the SPLA was seriously on the alert.”

Most youth in Malakal, Upper Nile state do fishing as a source of livelihood.