Western Equatoria Governor Bangasi Joseph Bakosoro yesterday called for South Sudanese police to take a greater role in combating insecurity, saying the army were not supposed to deal with civilian matters and accusing many soldiers of indiscipline.
The governor was speaking after his return to Yambio from Juba, where he met with President Salva Kiir. The governor briefed the state council of ministers on this meeting, saying all ten governors had been summoned by the president to Juba to discuss the security situation in the states. He cited some causes of insecurity saying these included lack of police strength, army indiscipline, proliferation of firearms, youth unemployment, food insecurity, poor roads, and the weak judiciary system.
He said specifically, “The army have lost direction, in all the states you find that the army attack civilians, the civilians attack army and so on, in all the states. The police who are supposed to keep the rule of law have no arms and have no power in all the states.”
“So people misbehave and the police cannot do anything. There is no armament in the police hands, there is no logistics, so they are neglected. And probably that is the cause of rampant insecurity in the whole country. Because if the police is not strengthened then who again can keep the law? Nobody. Because the army are not supposed to deal with civilians, they only fight,” he added.
“With the army they are only to fight but it seems there is not much discipline now in most of our soldiers and we have lost the vision which we were coming with from liberation.”
He also referred to the understrength police force in the state, explaining, “A lot of police personnel are only women with children in their hands, and they are unable to control insecurity. Others are very old that even to hold a gun it is for him a stick to walk with. So who can now keep the security?”
Bakosoro said the meeting in Juba also resolved that the governors should talk to people holding arms not to block roads and for cattle to leave areas where they are unwanted and go where they are supposed to go in order to bring peace to the people.
He claimed that recent highway robberies in the state were caused by poor economic conditions that had made people desperate. “The inflation has made people now take arms and loot so they can eat. That is another problem. So all these blocking of the roads and looting of the vehicles is because people have not enough food to eat. So that is how some go to look for food.”