South Sudan’s Minister of Interior Gen. Aleu Ayieny Aleu announced on Friday that the police captured 6,000 arms in searches in Juba since last month, mostly from the hands of ‘the youth.’

On Friday the interior minister noted at a press conference that people were using the arms mostly for killing and robberies: “The thieves who are killing and attacking people in Juba are mostly the youth, and they have arms and I have collected not less than 6,000 arms in Juba.”

“Where are the youth getting these arms from?” stated Aleu.  

Starting on 22 March the police and other forces in Juba set up roadside checkpoints to search vehicles for illegal firearms, and also carried out house-to-house searches.

After the first searches, police announced the capture of 500 guns. This latest announcements revises the figure sharply upward.

Maj. Gen Andrew Kuol Nyuon, deputy inspector general of the National Police Service, has emphasized security in Juba town is calm and the weapons collections are now part of a continuous exercise that will be extended to other states of South Sudan.

Commenting on the searches, a resident of Juba, Peter Ramadan appreciated the efforts of the government and said the situation in Juba has calmed compared to previous days.

“In fact the situation has improved a little bit despite that our country is in war – now people can sleep,” he said, referring to the nighttime shootings heard frequently since December 2013.

Related coverage:

South Sudan police say 500 guns collected in Juba operation (28 March)

House-to-house weapons searches in Juba (23 March)