The Catholic Diocese of Torit in collaboration with the Eastern Equatoria State government and with support from PAX (Protection of Civilians) organization, last week launched a Human Security Survey (HSS), a tool they say will help address rampant insecurity in the state.
The state has recently faced a spate of murders resulting from revenge killings, Gender-Based Violence (GBV), communal clashes, and highway robberies. In the last two weeks, the state recorded 11 deaths in Torit town, Torit East, Magwi, and Ikotos counties.
The project manager of Torit Catholic Diocese, Fr. Martin Vuni, said the survey will help partners and the government plan peacebuilding activities based on evidence in the grassroots.
“This is a very important exercise which strengthens our roles as civil society organizations and as churches to carry out the work of peacebuilding based on the evidence we are introducing of doing things as governments and civil society organizations, various ministries and commissions,” Fr. Vuni said. “HSS helps us to reach down to the grassroots and assess people's perspectives on their own lives, on how they see their lives, those factors that tend to interfere with their peace and welfare. So this will help us soon to be able to design peacebuilding interventions based on evidence to address real issues in time.”
Fr. Ausilio Odume, the deputy secretary-general in the now-defunct Torit state and acting Eastern Equatoria State governor, during the launch, assured of government support to attain positive results during the survey.
“I want to assure you that the government will support to ensure that this human security survey will succeed because it is not only working for the Catholic Church, it is helping us the government. We want people to come up like this and support us so that we work together, we cannot address and solve the problems of this country through only the government, it will never succeed,” Fr. Odume said.
Adelio Ojina Quinto, a member of the Otuho Peace Taskforce, criticized the government over the rampant escape of inmates from prison and police cells and said this adds to insecurity.
“So Otuho Taskforce in most of its efforts decided to bring a full report to the government because we are there to deliberate on disputes, not on crimes like killings. We tried our best, but I am sorry ladies and gentlemen, today the issue of guns is everywhere and is threatening everybody, even the so-called chiefs don’t have the guts to arrest or capture those criminals,” Ojina said.
The director-general for local government and law enforcement agencies, Mustaffa Albino Zachariah, admitted the surge in insecurity in most parts of the state, especially Torit County, but assured that the human security survey will address the issue.