The mayor of Abyei town on Thursday said that the Abyei Special Administrative Area Chief Administrator Dr Chol Deng Alak, his cabinet, youth, women, chiefs, and the Community Liaison Office of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) joined hands in clearing bushes in Abyeu Town.
According to Mayor Mading Anyang, the exercise will cover the clearing of two square kilometers of bushes and aims to maintain a healthy environment and improve security because criminals often sneak into the town through the bushes.
He told Radio Tamazuj Thursday that the bush clearance started on Wednesday and that trees surrounding the Nyinkuec market and Kol-Adhet in Abyei Town will be cleared to pave the way for planning the town later this year.
“I appreciate Radio Tamazuj for checking on developmental activities in Abyei. The cleaning program started on Wednesday in the Eastern part of the Nyin-Kuec market up to the UNISFA compound on the road leading to Amiet,” Mayor Anyang explained. “The reason for this is that the town is bushy which is dangerous to the health of the people and the environment itself. So, Dr. Chol Deng Alak, the chief administrator, in conjunction with UNISFA, the paramount chief of the Bongo tribe, and other stakeholders participated in the bush clearance.”
“Abyei Town is enclosed by shrubs so we opened the road going to the Dungop area and even the surveyed areas are all hindered by trees and grass yet the areas that were surveyed last year have to be allotted,” he added.
Meanwhile, Abyei Paramount Chief Bulabek Deng Kuol said Abyei Town was surrounded by shrubbery which has made it unsafe, and welcomed the bush clearance exercise.
“Abyei Town has become very small due to insecurity around it and the market is small and bushy and that encourages gunmen to sneak in and cause insecurity like the deadly recent incident of Nyin-Kuech market,” he said. “It was because the bushes engulfed the town making it difficult for security to check the strangers coming in that is why the government planned to clear bushes around the town to allow security personnel to do their work.”