The new Minister of Interior, Angelina Teny, on Tuesday, called for the disarmament of civilians in Jonglei State and Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) to curb insecurity occasioned by bloody cattle rustling and attendant child abductions.
She made the call during a parliamentary sitting to which she and other government officials were summoned to respond to increasing cases of child abductions, brutal killings across the country, and border tensions in Kajo-Keji County along the South Sudan-Uganda border.
On 28 September, Hon. Michael Tot Ruout raised a motion concerning an upsurge of child abductions, brutal killing of travelers, and cattle raids in Nyirol County in Jonglei State.
Another legislator, Stephen Boy, raised a second motion about the killing of two women by armed criminals from Gogrial East County and the assassination of eight traders in Tonj County, both in Warrap State.
The other motion was on border insecurity caused by the Ugandan army who encroached into and set up camps in Central Equatoria State’s Kajo Keji County.
After deliberations, the assembly resolved to summon ministers of Interior, Defense, and National Security. They also summoned the governors of Jonglei and Warrap states and the chief administrator of GPAA.
While addressing the House, Minister Teny urged the lawmakers to actively help and support law enforcement agencies and organized forces in ending criminality across the country.
“We have some recommendations and this August House can support security agencies to address issues of crimes that are unsettling our communities and our people. Some of these recommendations include the support for the strategies that have been put in place for disarmament and the key word that has been used by the governor (Jonglei) is peaceful disarmament,” she said. “If you noted, in this report most of the investigation of the cases is still ongoing. Issues of abductions and cattle raids are very difficult to handle because of the challenges faced by the police, other law enforcement agencies, and the other security agencies that usually support the police in carrying out its mandate.”
“The challenges include very difficult and poor roads and our forces also have issues of poor communication networks,” Minister Teny added.
She acknowledged that there are many firearms in the hands of civilians and that there are very few courts or even none in some places.
“Even when you apprehend people in those areas, we have issues of courts and public prosecutors are not many, and in many areas, only mobile courts can operate. Sometimes the police and security forces cannot respond because they are hindered by the fact that the resources are limited,” the minister said. “There should be empowerment of the police and other security agencies that usually support us in tackling some of these criminal activities. There should be logistical support to the organized forces but this should be coupled with other processes to be undertaken by other institutions such as continued dialogue and reconciliation.”
The ministers of foreign affairs, defense, of national security, the chairperson of the Border Committee, and the governor of Central Equatoria State failed to appear before the House.
Meanwhile, Philip Aguer Panyang, an assistant professor in the Department of Security and Strategic Studies at the Institute for Peace, Development and Security Studies at the University of Juba, welcomed the proposal to disarm civilians in Greater Jonglei.
“This is a modern world and in the modern world, it is the responsibility of the government to protect civilians and not civilians to protect themselves, so the proposal is good,” he said.
He also recommended for establishment of joint security police comprising of greater Jonglei communities to address the issues of cattle rusting and child abduction. He stressed the need for the government to deploy the army and police to protect all communities in Jonglei from organized and armed criminals during the disarmament exercise.