Unified troops at Alelo training centre Upper Nile State - credit | courtesy

The government of Jonglei State has said the delayed graduation of the unified forces has created an administrative rift and paralyzed efforts to curtail insecurity in the state.

John Samuel Manyuon, who is the state minister of information admitted that the government lacks enough security forces to protect civilians against deadly communal raids.

In an interview with Eye Radio on Saturday, Minister Manyuon said the state government has not been able to intervene in the cases of inter-communal hostilities.

“Currently the state doesn’t have enough police or any armed forces to be deployed into all the counties to protect citizens, this is because the unification of the armed organized forces has not yet been done, and there is no way you can deploy police to other areas which are controlled by other oppositions,” he told Eye Radio on Friday.

Jonglei State has been through waves of communal conflicts and highway banditry that have killed dozens of people since the beginning of this year.

The latest incident was Wednesday’s killing of at least 13 people including two children in Duk County in the state.

The commissioner of Duk John Chatem said the armed assailants believed to be from the neighboring Pibor also wounded 5 others as locals tried to recover stolen cattle.

Manyuon told Eye Radio Friday, that the state government is unable to deploy law enforcement agencies in opposition-held areas due to differences in the jurisdiction.

“In Jonglei, there are parts that are controlled by the opposition and the government and it makes it so difficult that the state leadership cannot deploy police or whatever and there are not enough police at the moment to be deployed,” he said.

The conflict-torn state has seen multiple incidents of cross-border cattle raiding, child abduction, and highway ambushes since the beginning of this year.

This is despite last year’s commitment by the communities of greater Jonglei to peacefully coexist among themselves.

Manyuon described the situation as volatile and called on the national government to find ways to curb subnational violence in the state.

“The security situation in Jonglei is volatile because most of Jonglei is being affected by these cattle raiding, killing, and child abduction. As you might have heard the incident in Duk, it was very sad and heartbreaking to see our people die in such senseless fighting and we still hope for peace, that one day,” Manyuon stated.

“The Greater Pibor Administrative Area and the people of Jonglei will live as one regardless of all these things happening,” he added.

The 2018 revitalized agreement mandates the unity government to train and graduate at least 80,000 strong security personnel to safeguard the interim process and protect civilians.

However, three years have passed since the formation of the unity government and the unified forces have not been unified.