The Government of Eastern Equatoria State on Monday deployed units of the Necessary Unified Forces (NUF) in the volatile Camp 15 area of Budi County, officials said.
Camp 15 is among the hotspot areas along the Torit-Kapoeta Road which is plagued with cattle rustling, killings, attacks, vehicle ambushes, and highway robberies. A few years ago, Governor Louis Lobong Lojore survived a deadly ambush on the same road.
Late last year, 700 unified forces were dispatched to Eastern Equatoria State by the SSPDF leadership, ostensibly to secure the borders of South Sudan with Kenya and Uganda after encroachment by the two countries.
Eastern Equatoria State Local Government and Law Enforcement Minister Peter Lokeng Lotone told Radio Tamazuj Tuesday that unified forces will maintain peace along the troubled highway.
“Yes, we have deployed at Camp 15 and other hotspot areas along the road to Kapoeta up to Lowareng,” he said. “The deployed unified forces will keep security and stability so that people travel in peace.”
When asked why the troops were diverted to other areas yet they were meant to secure the border with Kenya, Minister Lokeng stated: “When we talk of Kapoeta that is the border with Kenya and Kapoeta East County is part of Greater Kapoeta.”
However, the SPLM-IO commissioner of Kapoeta East County, Abdallah Angelo Lokeno, criticized the state government’s move to station the unified forces in Camp 15 and along the road to Kapoeta town instead of at the Nadapal border post along the South Sudan-Kenya border.
“We were waiting for the unified forces to come and protect our border with Kenya but I heard that they have been deployed along the roads and this is not good for the citizens. We said we have to protect the land and borders of South Sudan these forces were supposed to be brought here to me,” he lamented. “The government has forgotten us in Kapoeta East County and they seem not to know that we have a lot of conflicts here at the border. They are supposed to bring those forces to protect the citizens so that the fighting at the border stops. It is the police supposed to protect roads.”
“The attacks from elements from Kenya continue but we contain them and they reduced when they heard that South Sudan was bringing forces to protect the border,” Commissioner Lokeno added.
He appealed to President Kiir and First Vice President Dr Riak Machar to prioritize the defense of the country’s borders.
Meanwhile, an SPLM-IO member of the national parliament representing Eastern Equatoria State, Lujina Imoya, said the unified forces were not to be deployed along the highway.
“Those soldiers were supposed to be deployed to designated areas but some of our communities sometimes are a problem to themselves and the government has to help the citizens, its voters, who are suffering because we have criminal cases happening everywhere in South Sudan. Maybe that is why they deployed them like that,” she said. “We need to investigate and see why that was done because we need the unified forces in designated areas. Where they have been taken now, they will just be patrolling the roads and the areas for security purposes but they cannot be along the roads because it is dangerous and criminals can attack them at any time.”