Neighborhood Committee Registers Residents to Curb Crime

16 March 2010 - (Juba) - A neighborhood watch committee in Atlabara in Juba appears to be focusing on foreigners as it registers residents living in the area in a bid to curb crime.

Speaking to SRS in Juba, on Tuesday, the deputy-secretary of the committee, Isaac Sebit, said that the exercise would help improve security in the area.

[Isaac Sebit]: ”The importance of the committee is to organize the area and establish the number of residents, so that we can identify the criminals in the area and follow them up in case any crime such as theft arises in the area. In fact, after the signing of the peace agreement, a lot of people came in and as a result, we find it difficult to know who the foreigners in the area are. In some areas for example you will find some of them renting houses; the irony of it is that the landlords do not even know their names and their status in the area. What the landlords want is their money from the rent. So when the government came up with this policy we decided to register everyone in the area so that we can know the people living here.”

Isaac Sebit was speaking to SRS in Juba on Tuesday.