UNHCR urges government to end violence in Upper Nile region

The United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has called on the transitional unity government and the state authorities to work swiftly to end the ongoing violence in Upper Nile State.

This was revealed on Tuesday by the outgoing UNHCR country representative Arafat Jamal.

“What is the next step in Upper Nile, one, there is the need for  the central government to play strong and positive role, when I say positive role I mean is that there is always accusation that some in Juba were actually fanning the flame of violence,” said Jamal.

He lauded the government for graduating some members of the unified forces, adding that these forces need to be supported financially to do their mandate.

“The graduation of the forces is a positive thing, I hope that the government with the support of international community can invest in these forces, and can make sure that they are actually effective and able to play a positive role,” said Jamal.

Late Last week, members of Troika countries and the European Union in a joint statement expressed deep concerns on the violence in Upper Nile and Jonglei States.

The Troika umbrella group that includes the United States, Norway and Britain called on the government to move fast and end the mayhem that has caused displacement of nearly 40,000 civilians since August.

 Jamal particularly cited the attack at Adidiang area in Upper Nile State where several people were killed, and families uprooted.

 “The violence is completely unsystematic, it is just violence, people were not looting they were terrorizing, it seems like the violence was directed to scare the other groups,” said Jamal.