S. Sudan says civilians “more armed” than the government
South Sudan civilian fighters hold their weapons in an identified area in South Sudan on February 10, 2014. (Photo credit: REUTERS)
June 16, 2020 (SSNN) – A senior South Sudan government official has claimed that civilians in the world’s youngest country have more arms at their disposal more than the members of the organized forces.
South Sudan’s deputy minister of foreign affairs Deng Dau blamed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) arms embargo for what he said is a shortage of weapons that could be used to maintain security by the organized forces and especially the police.
“The civilians are more armed than the government, this is the challenge because we have been lock-in, we cannot access the international market, even just to arm the police for them to keep law and order is a big issue to us,” Deng said on Saturday following a meeting with the US ambassador to Juba Thomas Hushek.
The South Sudanese diplomat claimed that the government in the war-torn country is unable to arm the police due to the arms embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council since 2018 and appealed to the US government to campaign for the lifting of the arms embargo.
“On targeted individual sanctions, I also informed the ambassador on how difficult it is for those individuals because even before the COVID-19 they were not allowed to travel,” he said.
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