South Sudan defense minister slams police over chaotic security

By Simon Deng

South Sudan’s defense minister Anjelina Teny has blamed the police over the failure of the authorities to tame intercommunal violence in the country.

Intercommunal violence remains full blown in the country despite the implementation of a peace deal that tamed a political crisis.

Armed communities normally attack and kill members of other groups over issues related to cattle, pastureland and ethnic differences and efforts to bring them to an end is apparently the work of the police, Teny told senior security officers during the opening of a training on physical security and stockpiles management in the capital Juba.

“The most threatening national security threats in our country, the most of the killings, and most of the security incidents and things that prevent stability in our country has to do with intercommunal conflict which is definitely the work of the police, the rest of us came in to support,” Teny said.

Mahmud Solomon, the Minister for Interior said the control of arms and ammunition has proven difficult and that continuous supplies of arms to communities maybe through the endless military agitations in the country.

“We have just came out from the war and still even there are some groups who are still in the bush fighting the government. It will not make sense for us to say that we are going to control the arms unless those groups joined the peace,” Solomon said.

“It is not easy for us to control those guns. When they joined the peace then we will make sure that there is no any group organized fighting the government or supplying the civilians with arms and ammunition,” he said

Andrew Kuol Nyuon, the Chairperson for the Bureau for Community Security and Small Arms Control urged the army to mark their arms, noting that marking and control of arms is a major concerned for the bureau.