The army has said about 4,000 assorted weapons have been recovered from civilians in Central Equatoria State’s Terekeka County in an ongoing peaceful disarmament campaign.

Lt. Gen. Thoi Chany Reat, the South Sudan People's Defence Forces’ (SSPDF) Assistant Chief of Defense Forces for Operations, told Radio Tamazuj Tuesday that the illegal firearms, mostly PKM light machine guns and Kalashnikov (AK-47) rifles, were peacefully collected from civilians.

“Last week alone we collected 1,000 different types of guns including PKM and Ak-47 rifles so if you add on to that what we collected in the last few days, they can reach 4,000,” he said.

According to Gen. Chany, the collection of illegal arms from civilians will l help reduce cyclic intercommunal violence and recurrent cattle raids in the area.

“The disarmament came after persistent insecurity in Juba due to the availability of guns in the hands of civilians. So, we were given orders to collect the guns that are in the hands of civilians,” he explained. “Disarmament differs and can be forceful or peaceful. Our approach is peaceful disarmament.”

The army’s chief of operations said law and order have returned to Terekeka County following the commencement of the ongoing disarmament exercise.

The disarmament started on 9 July 2023 following a confrontation between the elements of the army and pastoralists on the outskirts of Juba in June 2023 and deadly communal violence among Mundari tribesmen.

For his part, Terekeka County Commissioner Warnyank Luko Wuyu said he did not have accurate figures about munitions recovered from the 10 payams of the county.

“We are supposed to ask the chiefs in a security meeting to get the total number of guns collected from the 10 payams or 52 bomas of Terekeka County,” he said. “The disbarment is progressing well since they (SSPDF) came on 9 July 2023. I welcomed them and called upon the chiefs to cooperate with the army so that civilians hand over illegal guns to the government.”

“This disarmament is not for Central Equatoria or Terekeka alone but for the whole of South Sudan,” Commissioner Luko added.

South Sudan is flooded with illegal guns in the hands of civilians following decades of civil wars before and after the independence.