Lt. Gen. Thoi Chany Reat, Deputy Chief of Staff, SSPDF - Credit | Lou Nelson/Eye Radio | April 8, 2022

The Joint Security Force said on Friday it has seized over 300 weapons including heavy machine guns from unauthorized persons in Gondokoro Payam, but a local chief refuted the figure, saying only five weapons were collected.

SSPDF Deputy Chief of Defense Force for Operation General Thoi Chany said the seized weapons include AK47, PKM, RPG and Colt Monitor.

General Chany calls on citizens to cooperate with the joint security forces involved in the house-to-house disarmament exercise.

The security official said what started as a festive holidays’ security procedure has now become a successful disarmament operation that will not stop until all unauthorized weapons are collected.

“I would like to tell the citizens of the country that the process of collecting and disarming will not stop, but rather we will continue,” Chany told state-owned television SSBC.

“I would like to tell the citizens that if your weapon is disarmed and your neighbor is not disarmed, you must report it to the security forces because if you do not report it, this will be a challenge for you.”

“After all, this weapon may be used against you. One day, you will be attacked in your home, so I appeal to the citizens to report it and we will collect it. It is not all the weapons in Juba.”

The SSPDF official said the disarmament will continue because, in his words, many weapons are still hidden in residential areas.

On 31^st, December 2023, 19 people were arrested including four traditional authorities during a disarmament exercise in the Mononyik area of Gondokoro.

The disarmament exercise reportedly triggered conflict between civilians and the army amid allegations of harassment and displacement of hundreds to neighboring areas.

On Saturday, the four traditional chiefs detained in Gondokoro Payam were released from an army detention facility in the area.

Meanwhile, Ramdan Juma Wani, one of the traditional Chiefs in Gondokoro reputed the joint security force allegation that it collected hundreds of weapons in the area.

Juma claims that the disarmament force only collected five weapons from civilians in the area.

“Only 5 weapons were collected from the area and the sultans and the citizens in the place do not have any weapons,” he said.

“We do not even know the type of weapon called RPG. We have only heard of it, and God is a witness to what I am saying. Just take weapons.”

On his part, Maj General Paul Nyang Majok, the Chief of Operation said the major highways linking Juba to Bor and Nimule were peaceful after the disarmament.

General Nyang said the army and the state government have formed a committee to investigate the violations committed during the disarmament exercises.

“After we deployed our force on the island, the crimes that were occurring on the Juba- Bor and Juba-Nimule Road decreased relatively because when disarmament operations take place, the criminals disappear on the islands, and our force was not able to reach that area.”

“But after we deployed our force in the area and collected weapons, the security situation calmed along the Juba-Bor and Juba-Nimule highways.”

“We held a meeting with the state governor, the state government, and the governor, and we formed a committee headed by the state’s security advisor to investigate the alleged violations that occurred on the island.”