Disarmament Campaign in South Sudan was flawed and disorganised Says Small-Arms Watchdog

NAIROBI - The Geneva-based Small Arms Survey has released a report indicating that the disarmament campaign ordered last year by President Salva Kiir Mayardit was flawed.

Speaking to Sudan Radio Service on Monday, the author of the report, Adam O’Brien, said the disarmament campaign failed because it did not receive adequate support from the Government of southern Sudan.

“It was required that the state authorities, supported by the SPLA, should collect the weapons in their states. But there were no resources provided for this process, there was no training provided for the SPLA authorities or the community security forces. A small-arms control bureau, an institution which should be coordinating the process of building the security of the community was not fully functional in a way to support this process. So at the end of the day, the local authorities were on their own to determine when, where and how to disarm the communities in the state.”  said Adam O’Brien

O’Brien said that up to now there was no clear indication of the amount of weapons collected in southern Sudan.

“The process was unevenly implemented. Out of ten states in southern Sudan, five did not disarm at all. In some states there was significantly more. In Warrap state, the local authorities claimed that 15,000 weapons were collected. We do not know whether these weapons were collected during the six-month disarmament process or previously. In some states there were reports of a thousand weapons, 3000 weapons, so it is hard to get a total figure or a reliable figure.” Adam O’Brien adds

O’Brien said local government officials and civilians are going to continue to resist the disarmament process unless they are provided with guarantees of improved security from the SPLA.

(SRS)