South Sudan embarks on capacity building to boost civilian disarmament

Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-20 23:13:04|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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JUBA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Wednesday said it will be conducting capacity building to boost the ongoing civilian disarmament and curb proliferation of small arms in the country.

Lt-Gen Andrew Kuol Nyuon, head of South Sudan Bureau for Community Security and Small Arms Control said training of law enforcement personnel and strengthening their capacity will be conducted alongside sensitization and awareness campaign to enhance peaceful disarmament in the country.

"We would want actually to move from state to state, so that we sensitize and make awareness to our people in the country, so that disarmament becomes very easy. If we don't disarm the mindset of our people then it will be difficult to collect arms in the hands of the people," said Nyuon.

Nyuon acknowledged that proliferation of small arms has become a big security threat especially in the horn of Africa and Great Lakes region.

"In South Sudan we have been in war for 40 years and in all these wars when we were in one Sudan, civilians were actually acquiring arms. These arms have not been collected so you actually conclude that the whole population of South Sudan is armed," said Nyuon.

He revealed that disarmament efforts have been so far conducted in Pibor, Gogrial, Tonj, and Rumbek areas which have in the past experienced civilian killings due to cattle rustling.

The Regional Center on Small Arms and Light Weapons in the Great Lakes region, the Horn of Africa and Bordering States (RECSA) is supporting South Sudan to achieve capacity in disarmament and controlling small arms proliferation across its porous borders.

Brig. Gen. Christo Simon Fataki, head of RECSA delegation in South Sudan, said they have provided capacity and skills to support the East African country in marking and tracking weapons.

"We provided three electronic marking machines to South Sudan to mark their weapons, also to create database. We also installed the RECSA small arms tracing system and we trained personnel on marking weapons as well as how to install database," said Fataki.

He added that they will provide office equipment to boost the capacity of the South Sudan bureau on small arms control, and train law enforcement agencies in the area of Physical Security Stockpile Management (PSSM) in order to raise their capacity in managing weapons and ammunition.

He said that disarmament is a long process which requires participation of local communities so that they own the process and it can only be conducted in conjunction with provision of security in order to protect those being disarmed.

"Disarmament also does not mean the physical removal of weapons from the civilian hands but it also address social, economic, political development, good governance and security sector reform, so that if the whole population is catered in all aspects, there will be no need or demand of small arms in the hands of civilians," said Fataki.

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