Lam Akol, the head of South Sudan’s unarmed political opposition coalition, has called upon the United Nations Mission in South Sudan to take up security of Juba to allow free movement of people in the city.
His urging comes after the SPLA and SPLA-IO, who were meant to provide security together in the capital, instead fought days of bloody battles which left hundreds dead.
Akol who also the Minister of Agriculture told Radio Tamazuj that the two joined armies deployed totally failed to respect the recent peace agreement signed.
“We tried joined forces from two side between SPLA-IO and SPLA forces and they failed,” he said.
Akol said that the citizens of South Sudan have lost relatives from both sides of the split army so security should be lifted to UNMISS forces instead.
“Without security in the country, government institutions cannot operate, so security is a key to any activities in the country,” he said.
Lam reiterated that they said earlier when the peace still being negotiated that there was no reason Juba security to be under the two warring parties because the two parties are not trusting each other.
He suggested that since UNMISS was in the country since 2005, the UN forces should take security in Juba for the peace to be successful.
AUDIO: Listen to Lam Akol’s remarks in Arabic