Eastern Equatoria State police have received seven vehicles including a lorry from the national government to boost security in the region.
The vehicles which arrived in Torit on Thursday are part of the 150 vehicles which President Salva Kiir promised the police across the country to boost security.
Major General James Monday Enoka, the state Police Commissioner said the vehicles will curb insecurity including cattle raids and highway robberies.
“Today is a very special day in the history of Eastern Equatoria State especially as far as maintaining security, law, and order is concerned because we have arrived with seven new vehicles, six are for the police and one is for the judiciary. This is very important because it is going to facilitate the rule of law and criminal justice management,” he said. “This is going to contribute to combating and preventing crimes in this state, especially the highway robbery and the cattle raiding plus other crimes.”
The state information minister and government spokesperson Patrick Oting Cyprian thanked the president but cautioned the police to handle the vehicles with care and use it for their intended cause.
“The coming of these vehicles will bring peace to the country and police will do their job with all powers they have because vehicles are already there. We are telling drivers to protect these vehicles because they are very expensive and you know the country’s economy is down. Let us keep these vehicles to stay for long even up to 10 years because they are land cruisers,” he advised.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Torit municipality, Joseph Aye Oswaha said mobility has been a great challenge in the fight against crimes.
“I am happy because we have been suffering from a lack of transport. I thank the president and the government in Juba for their positive thinking in filling the gaps in states especially the police in the security sector. Now we are left with the army, they need vehicles so that we can move the security of the state,” he added.
Separately, the new UNMISS Police Commissioner Christine Fossen visited Torit on Thursday to acquaint herself with the state police and their working environment.
“My purpose is just to visit the field office to know about their work to see what they are concentrating on, the situation on the ground here and to get to know the people that is the most important thing because when am the police commissioner seated in Juba it is very important to know what is going on in the states and to feed that is part of my work,” Fossen said. “We are going to discuss how we can proceed, how we can improve our work here, how can we from the headquarters in Juba support the Torit field office in a better way. We are constantly working on improvements.”
Eastern Equatoria state deputy police commissioner Major General John Lunny welcomed the UNMISS police boss and underscored challenges in mobility as the main challenge in enhancing security in the state.