Wildlife Sector In Southern Sudan Faces Challanges

1st March 2011 – (Juba) –GoSS Ministry Of Wildlife and Tourism says the wildlife in the south is facing challenges because of poachers.

The Director General in the Wild Life and Tourism Ministry, Major General Philip Chol Majack, said that the government is working to disarm civilians.

He was speaking to SRS in Juba.

[Maj-Gen Philip Chol]: “Right now we are thinking of ways to limit the illegal arms which are in the hands of the civilians out there, so as to provide stability in the wild life section. On top of that, during the war a lot of people got hold of arms, which were later on used for illegal hunting and the destruction of the wild animals. In general the challenges that we are facing in the Wild Life sector currently came as a result of the war, following the revolution of our people when the SPLA started the war. You know they were controlling most of the forests while the government’s control on the other hand was limited to the towns, thus there was no control over the security situation of the wildlife.

General Majack added that animals that had fled to neighboring countries during the war are slowly returning.

[Maj-Gen Philip Chol]: “After the CPA was signed, we started building reserves systems in the areas where our animals are expected to return to. So right now, we have realized that the animals have started slowly returning back to our forests”

That was Major General Philip Chol Majack speaking to SRS in Juba.