Demolished shelters at Munuki graveyard. (-)

Dozens of families residing at Munuki graveyard have been evicted by the Central Equatoria State government and their makeshift shelters demolished.

The state government said it embarked on the demolition exercise to eliminate illegal structures encroaching on designated locations in the city.

“There is this graveyard along Juba-Bilpam road, where people decided to reside, and we have successfully removed them today from the graveyard,” he said on national television SSBC.

The head of demolition committee, Mawa Moses, who is also the state Minister of Roads and Bridges, said the eviction will continue in other occupied graveyards in the city.

“People can’t reside in the cemetery. That is why we decided to demolish this building and we shall continue demolishing the other few structures. We failed today due to time.”

“There is nowhere in the world where people reside in the graveyard, so I am appealing to all our citizens if you reside in any graveyard please leave the place.”

“There is another graveyard in Hai Malakal we go there and demolish structures built there.”

Juba, a sprawling city of more than half a million people, has faced growing population with the arrival of returnees and those displaced by insecurity across the country.

The high cost of rents in the capital is forcing many families to reside in unconventional locations such as graveyards, schools and churches.

The eviction at the Munuki graveyard came a day after a similar demolition of alleged illegal structures in several schools in the city.

The State Security Advisor Angelo Daya directed the illegal occupants to vacate the school premises or face the law accordingly.

Daya said the government will continue evicting squatters in the already mapped schools.