Danger from within
July 7, 2012
Nobody would envy Colonel Yuang Makette Yuang his job. The chief of the police precinct of Munuki in the capital Juba lacks the most basic equipment. "I desperately need a car in order to transport prisoners from the watch to pre-trial detention," explained the large man in an olive-black uniform. In the meantime, he's been renting a delivery van from a neighbor. "Then I need a motorcycle for my detectives, so that they can carry out their investigations."
For 25 years, Colonel Yuang served in the rebel South Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA). Following the peace agreement, he retrained. Now he's one of 25,000 police officers in South Sudan. The majority of them are former rebels. "We fought for another country. Today I'm a police officer for that same reason," he said. "The police force is important in enforcing the security of the population."
More than 900 dead
But the majority of the population are concerned about their safety. A recent poll found that 79 percent of people think that improving the security situation is the most important task for the future. Healthcare was the only issue more important than security among those questioned. A report by Canada's North South Institute found that "South Sudan has yet to realize key aspects of its peace dividend, particularly in the security sector."
An example is the ethnic tensions in the province of Jonglei in the east of the country. In December 2011, two ethnic groups - the Nuer and the Murle - began fighting one another. The United Nations reported that more than 900 people were killed during the conflict. For South Sudan expert Wolf-Christian Paes from the International Center for Conversion in Bonn (BICC), such acts of violence are nothing new. "The rivalries in the region are centuries old in some cases," he said. However the number of victims was lower in the past.
Over one million weapons
The rising number of victims is one of the legacies of the decade-long civil war. Around 720,000 weapons are said to be in circulation among the civil population alone, according to an international research group working on behalf of the UN. The police, army and other authorities have recovered only around 370,000 weapons. The South Sudanese government and the United Nations have made numerous attempts to remove weapons from sections of the civil population - in the majority of cases without success. Nobody is prepared to surrender their weapons without a functioning security apparatus in place.
For that reason, the police are often powerless to counter riots. But there are other reasons for the difficulties in policing the country. South Sudan is almost twice the size of Germany. There are as good as no surfaced roads; outlying regions are barely connected by streets. Twenty-five thousand police officers are simply not enough, Paes said: "In many regions there are only a handful of police officers who have to go out without vehicles or radios and because of that they can't control these large regions at all."
Veterans without prospects
A further security risk is presented by the many veterans who fought during the civil war in the SPLA and in other rebel groups. The official reintegration program was put on ice a few years ago.
The program is out of the question for many former rebels: "The SPLA was a guerrilla army. After the war, some soldiers simply decided to go home and they just returned to their villages," said William Deng Deng, the director of the State Reintegration Commission. But the program is still being targeted at active members of the SPLA, the police and other authorities. Those who have already left the SPLA receive no assistance. But former rebels without a job, an income or prospects, are potentially dangerous.
The South Sudanese government wants to tackle some of these problems. There is a reform program for the police force that includes, among other things, better training. The second phase of the reintegration process is also due to start. Nevertheless, it will be a long time before the legacy of the past 50 years of civil war can be overcome.
Author: Daniel Pelz / hw
Editor: Simon Bone