Rizig Zakaria Hassan, governor of Western Bahr el Ghazal, ordered on Sunday afternoon a curfew and immediate investigation of the killings that occurred earlier in the day and the prior evening.
At least six people were shot and killed by soldiers or police in Wau in the wake of a political crisis over transferral of the county seat of Wau County from Wau to Baggari. The youth had set up roadblocks mid-week cutting off the city from all sides.
Government efforts to open the roads may have prompted the violence which began Saturday evening and raged throughout the morning on Sunday with gunfire heard through parts of the city, calming by about mid-day.
The governor’s office then issued a notice titled ‘State Security Order No. 2/2012’ instituting a curfew between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. The order noted that “any person in possession of any type of illegal fire arm should hand over this to the police Head Quarters for custody.”
Another notice, State Order No. 3/2012, appoints an ad hoc committee “to conduct investigation into the losses incurred during the operations to open the three roads leading to Wau town from Tombura, Raga, and Baggari that were blocked by some youth of Wau County.”
The committee is chaired by the state advisor for security affairs and includes the commissioners of Wau and Jur counties, the mayor, the state legal advsir, and officers from the internal security, military intelligence, police and CID.
“The Committee shall use all possible lawful means and person to get its required information and submit its finding to the State Security Committee. within Seventy Two Hours from the date of signature,” the order states.
File photo: Police training in Juba (UN Photo/Tim McKulka)