Local authorities in the restive Warrap State have said the disarmament exercise is progressing well, with civilians voluntarily handing in more than 4,000 assorted illegal weapons in Tonj East County, which is often rocked by cattle raids and cyclic revenge attacks as of Monday.
Earlier this month, President Salva Kiir declared a state of emergency and disarmament exercise in Warrap State and Unity State’s Mayom County. A force drawn from the different armed forces was dispatched to Warrap State from Juba to carry out forceful disarmament after a seven-day ultimatum for civilians to voluntarily hand in illegal weapons.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday, Tonj East County Commissioner Mangor Dhuol confirmed that residents in his jurisdiction had handed over more than 4,000 guns to chiefs.
“According to the daily report I have received today (Monday) at 11 a.m., more than 4,000 guns were collected from all payams of Tonj East County, and the citizens were the ones who handed the weapons to the local chiefs,” he stated.
According to the commissioner, residents welcomed the initiative and are committed to gathering illegal firearms and handing them to the traditional authorities, who will give them to the army.
For his part, Ayii Kuot, the deputy paramount chief of the Noi Community in Tonj North County, said that since last week, they have been collecting weapons from civilians.
“We are now continuing with the collection of guns from the civilians…I have collected 15 guns from our civilians, and they continue bringing guns,” he said.
In the separate development, Tonj North County Commissioner Mawein Akech revealed that armed youth from neighboring Mayom County in Unity State attacked the Tonj Community, killed several people, and raided herds of cattle on Sunday afternoon. He said the people could not defend themselves because they had handed in their guns.
“I have just arrived from the Akop area, and my county is exposed to danger because my people have implemented the order on the collection of guns from civilians,” he said. “However, our neighboring communities took it as an advantage, and armed civilians from Mayom County have killed our herders and robbed the cattle.”
Meanwhile, Gogrial East County Commissioner Marko Garang Agany disclosed that the civilians in his area have understood the government’s message and are willing to surrender their guns.
“Nobody has rejected the call to hand in their guns to the government,” he stated. “The civilians in my area are now ready for that activity because they understood the message from the government.”
He attributed the delay of the disarmament exercise to the slow advance of the SSPDF soldiers who are currently stationed in greater Tonj.
“No gun has been collected up to now because the organized forces have not yet arrived in Gogrial East County; they are still in Tonj,” he said.
A representative of the civil society in Warrap State, Bona Malual, welcomed the state emergency and disarmament campaign. “We support the disarmament exercise because many of our people have been killing themselves,” he said.
The activist urged the government to provide sufficient security for civilians in Warrap State after the exercise to protect them from armed bandits and cattle rustlers from neighboring Lakes and Unity states.
Efforts to get a comment from SSPDF Spokesman Maj. Gen. Lual Ruai about the progress of the disarmament campaign were futile.