Maj. Gen. Daniel Justin, the Spokesperson of South Sudan National Police Service, Tuesday 9th Aug 2022. Credit: Charles Wote/Eye Radio.

The Ministry of Interior has issued a 7-month ultimatum to occupants of a police land at Gudele-1 in Juba to vacate the area or else face forceful eviction.

According to the ministry, the land situated opposite the private health facility commonly known as Lou Clinic was inherited from the then Sudan army.

The 230, 838 square meters of land were allegedly allocated to former Sudan Reserve Forces in the 1970s by the then-greater Equatoria Ministry of Physical Infrastructure.

The garrison was a security checkpoint meant to deter the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, SPLA from attacks on Juba.

However, following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, the army left the place that would later be taken over by South Sudan Police.

But since then, the police say, some individuals built on the land despite knowing it belongs to the government.

The police Spokesperson Major General Daniel Justin says the alleged occupants are given 7 months ultimatum to vacate the land or face the full might of the law.

“The police are informing those who built on the land of the police at Gudele 1, around Lou junction that the land belongs to the police, anyone who is leaving in that place is to evacuate before the dry season because, in January 2024, we are going to evacuate them by force,” Maj. Gen. Justine told Journalists in Juba.

For his part, Major General Sadik Ismail Sidigi who is the Director of Legal Affairs says that the Police have all documents to claim ownership of the land.

He warns that the police might use force to dislodge the occupants, urging the residents to vacate the place peacefully.

“We have all our documents from the Ministry of Lands and Physical Infrastructure, we completed all these processes. It has taken us quite a long time now,” said Sidigi.

“We talk to people to leave that place, but they don’t want to leave,

“As you can see now, some went far as building concrete buildings. As the police, we are in the capacity of removing them by force,

“We get our forces, we get our cars, we go there and then we can bulldoze down all these houses but since we are one of the organs that keeps law and order, if we do so, there is the probability that we shall clash with those leaving there and death probably can happen, people can clash and then will be there. We resolved to the law”.