Training for Bahr el Ghazal security officers. (-)

More than 60 participants, including police officers, prosecutors, and investigators from the Greater Bahr el Ghazal region are undergoing a two-day training workshop in Wau on post-election offenses prevention.

The workshop is organized by the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in collaboration with the National Police Service and the Integrated Electoral Assistance Team, comprising UNMISS and UNDP.

It targets personnel from Bahr el Ghazal states, Lakes, Warrap, Northern, and Western Bahr el Ghazal, aims to enhance the capacity of participants in preparation for the 2026 elections.

Lt. Gen. Abraham Manyuat Peter, the head of South Sudan’s Election Security Committee, said the training equips the officers with the skills necessary to identify and address conflicts that may arise during electoral periods.

Gen. Manyuat said the initiative is important in ensuring a coordinated response to electoral violence, particularly gender-based violence.

In an interview with Eye Radio on the training’s second day, he said the workshop will foster preparedness and collaboration among law enforcement and justice officials.

“This workshop is very important because it is a holistic workshop that brought together the judges, the police and within police, and there are investigators,” he said.

“We are training these police investigators so that they can identify what are these types violence which may occurred during, before or after the elections.”

“Bringing these staff together and for them to be given skills to work together and to know what type of crimes they will face during the elections and what short of response they could put in place to address them quickly.”

On his part, Deng Achuil Adija, the National Director of Public Prosecution in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, said this is not the first of its kind for the ministry to carry out such training in the Country.

He said the main objective of the workshop to build the capacity of the officers on the procedures of solving offenses during the elections, which are categorized or attached in the Election Act 2012, Amendment 2024.

“These issues of offenses which will arose during the elections are the mandates of the two ministries, the ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior and the police will be responsible for preventing crimes and multi practices during the elections,” he added.

Meanwhile the state UNMISS field coordinator Sam Muhamure outlined that they will working hand in hand with stakeholder across Bahr el Ghazal region in Lakes, Warrap, Northern and Western Bahr el Ghazal.

“As you know, the prosecutors and investigators and very important officers in preventing elections related offenses and elections violence, as they play a role in preventing, investigating and responding to any aspect of unlawfulness during, before and after elections. It is very important that the communities gain confidence in the whole elections engineering.”

South Sudan is scheduled to hold first ever elections since independence in December 2026, according to the terms of the two-year extension of the government’s tenure adopted in September 2024.