The authorities in the Western Bahr el Ghazal State capital, Wau, said preparations to mark the thirteenth anniversary of South Sudan Independence Day on 9 July are complete.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Sunday, the state’s police commissioner, Major General James Simon Yasi, said the deployment of joint forces to protect the celebrants and their properties and other security measures have been put in place.
“We took necessary procedures to conduct the 9 July celebrations. According to the policy of the state, we formed a committee to address this and they have done their work and now all the organized forces are ready,” he said. “They have prepared according to their parade and we are now in the process of how this occasion will take place. All the committees have submitted their necessary budgets to the state authorities and tomorrow (Monday), we should have the last preparations.”
Gen. Yasi added: “Finally, on 9 July, the official occasion in Western Bahr el Ghazal State will be held in Wau and it will include all the citizens and all the organized forces who will march to the stadium where we will have final celebrations.”
He said the event will be graced by the state officials headed by Governor Sarah Cleto Rial and her deputy, Zackaraia Joseph Garang.
“There will be a division of the forces with some marching and some of them will take measures to protect civilians in all residential areas,” Gen. Yasi stated.
On his part, the state’s information minister, Nicola Samuel, said the town mayor has taken measures to ensure general cleaning in Wau which included colorful painting of roundabouts, shops, and other buildings.
“You can see now there is cleaning and the mayor is even painting some roundabouts within the town and a lot of orders have been issued by the mayor. It is a very commendable activity and I thank the mayor for what he is doing,” he said. “I want to tell the people of Western Bahr el Ghazal State and the people of South Sudan that Independence Day is bigger than all of us and they should celebrate it. It would not have been easy without the hard work of SPLA and the contribution of South Sudanese to make us a free country.”
Samuel added: “Things [preparations] are going on well in terms of the planned activities and you can see the young people in Wau are practicing for the marathon on that day.”
The state government formed a committee last week to mobilize funds and prepare for the celebrations.