Category: National News

The government is drafting a bill for the establishment of a Food Reserve Agency that will buy and store food surplus from farmers across the country, according to spokesperson Michael Makuei Lueth.

The National Information Minister told reporters that the Agriculture and Food Security Minister informed the regular Council of Ministers’ meeting on Friday about the plans.

He said once the yet-being-drafted bill is enacted into law, this paves the way for the establishment of the Food Reserve Agency.

Minister Makuei explains that the agency will implement yet-to-be laid down policies by the Food Security Council established by a Presidential order in 2008.

“South Sudan Food Reserve Agency is an agency for the implementation of the policies that will be laid down by Food Security Council, ” he said.

It will be responsible for buying food surplus from farmers during dry spell, storing and distributing the commodity across the country.

“This agency will be operationalizing the policies, and it is the body that will be responsible for the stores, and buying food and storing them and all these things.

“Once the bill is drafted, it will follow suit all the Food Security Council policies. This will pave the way for the establishment Market there ought to be also legislation thereafter for the operationalization,” he said.

South Sudan Food Security Council was established by Presidential Decree in October 2008.

The mandate is to ensure the overall alignment and harmonization of food security initiatives of the various line ministries and commissions, and to provide guidance for national food security policies.

Minister Makuei once effected, this will encourage the people of South Sudan to produce food.

“Of course, it is not there now, but with the establishment of this Council, it will encourage the people of South Sudan to produce so that this produce surplus.

“It will be bought from them and stored so that whenever there is a situation anywhere then that food can be rushed to the side to save the situation” Mr. Makuer added

 

 

 

 

His Majesty the Caretaker King of Anyuak People has called on the transitional government to protect the vulnerable citizens against armed elements in the country.

Akway Nyigwo questions the government’s commitment to safeguard the safety of the citizens while directing the concerns to Vice President Taban Deng Gait at the 1^st Anniversary of Collo Cultural Day in Juba on the weekend.

“We want to ask His Excellency Taban Deng about the person who is farming and the person who is moving in the bushes searching for people and killing them? Which one does the government want among those people?

He went on to say. ‘We have got our independence, and who is now spoiling the independence of this country?

King Akway appealed to the government must crackdown on raiders, bandits and other criminal militia groups to enable a stable environment.

“Your excellency the Vice President, we want this conference to stop bloodshed in South Sudan land. We want to agree that any person who causes problems in South Sudan, government have to decide on him … just for the safety of our people.”

Last year, King Akwai expressed disappointment over the lack of intervention by the government to address the root causes of the conflict in Pochalla County, describing it as frustrating and worrisome.

He spoke out after fierce fighting erupted in September 2023 between the SSPDF troops and armed youth leaving a dozen people dead and several others injured.

Responding to the plea, Vice President Taban Deng Gai said the government is committed to restoring the rule of law across the country.

“I will answer you like the answer of Jesus because was asked the same question, about the good and bad person, all of them are sons of God.

“So the good person and criminal person in the bush, are citizens of Salva Kiir, and the vulnerable Anyuak people are who are farming are also citizens of Salva Kiir.

“What we required from Salva and his government, Riek Machar, Taban Deng, Mama Rebeca Hussein Abdulbagi, Wani Igga and all the Vice Presidents is to implement the law for the people to be equal.”

 

 

 

The Judicial Reforms Committee is expected to present its findings and recommendations for public input in a week’s time as the term of the committee comes to an end soon.

In February this year, the national cabinet extended the committee’s mandate for another two months to enable the committee complete its tasks.

The 2018 peace deal obligates the unity government to reform relevant South Sudan laws including the judiciary system by engaging key government institutions and the public to seek their views and recommendations.

Speaking to the media on Saturday, James Ogooto who is the chairperson of the committee said different categories of South Sudanese will be invited to give their views on the judiciary reform process.

“We are planning to have what we call a validation conference or symposium, we will call on very many people, about 100 people, very knowledgeable people; professionals, politicians, lawyers, judges policymakers, women and youth,” he said.

“We want the entire representation of the population of this country to be here, then we present our recommendations what we think should be done and give them a chance to think through that, and a chance to give us their feedback so that we can finalize this job and present it to the government.”

James Ogooto said committee is striving a judiciary that renders what he describes the rule of law and not the rule of war.

“We have had war so far for too long. The judiciary should step in to render to the people of South Sudan the rule of law and that is what our committee has been doing over the last 20 months.

“So, we have been working on this for about 20 months, now we are coming to the end of it. In the next two weeks we would be finishing this work,” he added.

 

Unspecified number of peace soldiers in cantonment centers in Upper Nile region have succumbed to minor illnesses amid lack of food and drugs, according to Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel, the spokesperson of the SPLA/IO.

” The situation on the ground is not all that very good. One, due to lack of enough food in the cantonment centres. These people just survive on their own with no medicine.

“Sometimes our forces go without food for months, especially even now that they don’t even have salaries. So, there is hunger and depression on the ground,” he said.

The colonel Lam Pual Gabriel’s statement comes after the Joint Defense Board Deputy Chief, Lt. Gen. Gabriel Duop Lam toured four out of eight cantonment sites in Upper Nile state.

According to him, the soldiers are surviving on their own without medicines and food.

Lam added that there are no hospitals or health facilities in the cantonment centres or nearby to help treat the ailing forces.

“We don’t have hospitals or health facilities in the cantonment centres or nearby to help treat our forces. That’s why we have seen several dying of minor sicknesses. So those are some of the challenges that we have,” he added.

Two years ago, the Joint Military Ceasefire Commission established 17 cantonment sites to accommodate the second batch of unified forces from the ranks of the armed opposition forces.

According to the deal, the forces – mainly SPLA-IO and SOA will be registered, screened, and militarily formed before joining the government forces at the training centres.

In the Greater Upper Nile region, there were 5,460 army officers, 3,405 police personnel in Twofogia, 1,765 army personnel in Panyijier, 2,305 police personnel in Muom and in Kaljak 2,747 army personnel.3

This amounted to a total of 15,682 members of the organized forces.

The 2018 revitalized peace deal expects the unity government to graduate 83,000 unified forces drawn from the various parties to take charge of security during the ongoing transitional period.

However, factors such as insufficient funding, lack of political will among the peace parties, arms embargo and allegations of many ranks in the opposition forces are said to be complicating the efforts.