Authorities in Aweil North County of South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal State say they have recovered property stolen from the United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA) bases in October and await to hand over.
UNISFA withdrew from northern parts of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State in late October after months of tensions with local communities.
Upon UNISFA’s exit, the local communities and some organized forces looted the UN base in Gokmachar, Aweil North. The county government then instituted a committee in November to recover the stolen property.
“Well, we have collected so far what we managed. All the properties were restored in late last month and are being guarded by the county security forces,” Victerino Ken Akoon, the county commissioner, told Radio Tamazuj on Friday. “We are waiting for a response from the UNISFA because we have already informed them that the recollection procedure is completed.”
Aweil North police inspector Brigadier General Mabior Deng confirmed that they have stolen UN property but blamed UNISFA for leaving without not informing the government about their exit.
“Yes, the items were recollected and are protected by the police plus military personnel. The UNISFA was supposed to leave on 30th October, but they left suddenly without informing the authorities, without a written document to the communities,” Deng said.