Sydsudans plan om at indsamle 20.000 våben fra civile i delstaten Jonglei kan true den spændte situation i regionen.
JUBA/PIBOR, 28 Februar 2012 (IRIN): Efforts to and complicate efforts to deliver essential humanitarian aid could also be complicated by the disarmament plans, the UN and several analysts have warned.
“(Delstaten) Jonglei’s rival communities are wary of relinquishing their weapons, regardless of government promises to carry out disarmament simultaneously in each area,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a bulletin.
140,000 people affected
The UN estimates that 140,000 people in Jonglei have been affected, thousands of homes burnt and basic infrastructure destroyed during recent violence between different communities.
Fears of a deterioration have been stoked by plans by one side – the Lou Nuer-led “White Army” – to mount a major offensive backed by Ethiopian kinsmen in early March. Their aim is to permanently “quarantine” the Murle community and protect their own because, they said, the state had failed to do so.
While these communities have a long history of violent, retaliatory cattle rustling, conflict in Jonglei has in recent years also been fuelled by the absence of development and state authority, and perceptions – especially by the Murle – of marginalization from the political sphere.
Delay operation
The Enough Project called on South Sudan to delay the disarmament operation until a moribund peace process was reinvigorated.
“A disarmament campaign initiated in the short term will only serve to frustrate the ability of international humanitarian organizations to get aid to where it is needed and further destabilize the state, which will, in turn, inhibit any progress towards reconciliation,” said Jennifer Christian, Enough Project Sudan policy analyst.
Rights first
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