Warrap And Unity State To Embark On Disarmament Exercise

13 July 2010 - (Kuajok) – Warrap state authority and the government of Unity state will soon embark on a disarmament exercise in an attempt to reduce insecurity before the referendum is held next year.

Over the past months, raiders from both Warrap and Unity state have been involved in a series of killings over animals and pasture.

Speaking to SRS in Kuajok on Monday, the deputy governor of Warrap state, Yiel Mayar Mareng said that all stakeholders in the two states have been alerted on the process.

[Yiel Mayar]: “We are trying to demobilize civilians with arms in the states because it is really the cause of these tribal conflicts between communities and from county to county. It is a peaceful disarmament. We first mobilized their leaders and they have accepted to help hand over their arms. They went and mobilized their subjects and are now ready to surrender their arms. This is the only way to bring harmony between the two communities of Warrap and Unity states.”

Yiel Mayar who is also the minister for local government and law enforcement agencies added that the government shall recruit some of those disarmed to become law enforcers in order to control them from rearming illegally.

[Yiel Mayar]: “We shall bring them back by training and orienting them, and possibly some of them will be useful in the roles of community police under the command of the police. We have about two hundred and eighty people being trained in Rajaf, and hopefully when our personnel graduate, they will be sent here to Kuajok where they will be really effective in this law enforcement agency. With this method, it will not be easy for them to resume their previous criminal acts.”

SRS took to the street to ask some civilians in Kuajok on what they think about the disarmament and the new recruitment policy.

[James Gala]: “These militias come here to take cattle and so on. I don’t know whether it is politicized or not. But the most important thing is for the government to carry out disarmament. Nomads and those carrying illegal guns should be disarmed before the referendum, because even the registration of voters needs these places to be a peaceful area. We don’t need these tribal conflicts to exist in these areas. If the government conducts disarmament now, I don’t think any civilian from Warrap state will be able to attack people in Unity state, and if the SPLA also does the same in Unity state, I think there won’t be any trouble between the two borders.”

[Mayik Atom]: “To train these bandits in the police by making them security personnel is good sometimes, because they can help the government to trace for those who are now smuggling guns and roaming in these conflict areas. They know where to find those who loot people. They can trace whether those militias are organized by some governments or just raiders, and expose where these thieves are. If the government has budget for training these people to become police officers, it is also a good policy.”

Those were the views of residents in Kuajok speaking to SRS.