The authorities in Unity State and the internally displaced community leadership in the Bentiu Protection of Civilian Site (PoC) have agreed to deploy joint security forces comprising SPLA-IO and SSPDF to provide security in the IDP camp.
The move follows reports of murders and looting of property by armed criminal youth from within the internally displaced community in the camp.
Unity State security advisor, Salaam Maluit, said the forces will restore security within the camp.
"The number of security forces currently in the PoC in Bentiu is not enough. We are adding extra security forces which comprise SPLA-IO and government forces to protect the civilians there in the PoC from criminals who rob properties at night,” Maluit said.
He said the reason for intervention was due to last month’s incident in which some criminals entered the PoC and killed a person in his house, indicating that most of the criminals come from outside the camp.
The community leader in the Bentiu PoC, Bigoah Kuong Mayen, said that their meetings with the security advisor on Saturday came up with some resolutions which included the deployment of security forces, recruitment of community police within the PoC and the declaration of a night curfew from 7 pm to 6 am.
"These criminals are from outside the PoC but they have a network of their people within the PoC. That is the reason why we declared a night curfew and deployment of security forces within the POC,” Kuong said.