South Sudan seeks for alternative peaceful way to disarm civilians Friday 10 October 2008.
By James Gatdet Dak October 9, 2008 (JUBA) – The Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) conducted a one day workshop on Thursday in Juba to discuss a draft policy paper and identify mandate of the proposed Bureau for Community Security and Small Arms Control. The Bureau is to pursue a policy of disarming the civil population in a peaceful and sustainable way with the mission to “secure a peaceful Southern Sudan in which the people and communities can live free from armed violence and the threat of small arms in their communities.” A final draft paper will be submitted to the GoSS Council of Ministers and Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA) in the next one to two weeks for approval to give it a legal basis to carry out its programmes. The Bureau to be put under the GoSS Presidency, will work in collaboration with the concerned GoSS and state governments’ institutions, civil society, traditional chiefs and international development partners. In his opening remarks, GoSS Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny underlined the need to explore other peaceful ways of disarming the civil population in Southern Sudan, saying there had been a lot of confrontations between the civil population and the army during forceful disarmament exercises. He re-iterated the GoSS policy stating that only organized forces should carry arms, but added that the disarmament exercise may not eliminate possession of guns by individuals in the civil population. “We may not eliminate but reduce and legalize possession of guns by licensing some of them,” he said, explaining on possible possession of guns by qualified individuals in accordance with criteria yet to be set by law. Dr. Machar said the Census exercise in April this year was made difficult to succeed in Southern Sudan because of insecurity incidents in many areas in the South, urging for need to find a successful solution to the insecurity caused by armed civilians before the general elections next year. The workshop also discussed the need to address cross-border insecurity issues among armed civilians with the neighbouring countries. Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), David Lochhead, presented on UNDP’s related programmes and announced that the organization had earmarked $500,000 (half a million dollars) financial support to the Bureau. The workshop was attended by the concerned GoSS Ministers and independent institutions, representatives of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), SSLA, and international development partners. (ST) Copyright © 2003-2008 SudanTribune - All rights reserved. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
