The chairperson of Lakes State Youth Union (LASYU), Manasseh Mathiang Mading, has called upon the government to disarm civilians and restore peace in the state.

In an interview with Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, Manasseh Mathiang said the only way to mitigate inter-communal violence, cattle raiding, revenge killings, and maintain peace and reconcile the communities in Lakes State is to remove guns from the hands of civilians.

“Only the government can intervene to help out the community is by disarming civilians and maintaining peace and reconciliation but without government intervention, there will never be peace and reconciliation and people will continue to fight themselves and raid each other’s cattle in Lakes State,” Mathiang said.

He said another challenge the youth in the state are facing is the lack of employment opportunities.

“We have most of the youth who are graduates from various universities with different capacities loitering on the streets in Rumbek without employment. This needs the concerned institutions such as the ministry of labor and public service, relief and rehabilitation and employees justice chamber to intervene and help the youth in getting employment based on the merit of qualification with NGOs in Lakes State,” he added.

According to Mathiang, most of the jobs are taken by foreign nationals and the others are based on nepotism and favoritism and not on merit.

“It is recently after the state government was fully formed in Lakes State that the minister of Labor and public service issued a circular asking all NGOs, NNGOs, and INGOs to implement 80 percent job offers to South Sudanese nationals and 20 percent to foreigners after I had a meeting with her in her office in Rumbek,” Mathiang said.

The youth leader commended the state minister of labor and public service, Deborah Akec Kuocnin, for her efforts in trying to help the youth get employment with NGOs in Lakes State. 

He also appealed to the armed youth to desist from inter-communal violence, cattle raiding, revenge killings, and robbery and advised them to take up farming as a source of livelihood.

Since last year, Lakes State and parts of Warrap State have witnessed a surge in deadly inter-communal clashes despite several peace and reconciliation efforts by state and non-state actors.