Abdallah Baraj, the Secretary General of South Sudan Islamic Council  - Courtesy

The Islamic Council has said most of its stolen properties including grabbed pieces of land in Juba have been returned.

The Muslim Community has in several occasions raised complaints about its properties, especially in Juba town, Malakia and Konyo-konyo.

According to the Islamic Council, some of the pieces of land were grabbed after the independence of South Sudan.

During Eid al-Fitr in 2018, President Salva Kiir vowed to give back land stolen from the Islamic Council.

Abdallah Baraj, the Secretary General of South Sudan Islamic Council says the returned pieces of land include Al-Mouled playground in Juba town, preaching center in Konyo-konyo, Juba Scientific Institute among others.

“The president of the public, Salva Kiir, issued a decision in the year 2018 to return all the property of Muslims, and had it not been for the decision, we would have spent 50 years without taking it back,” Baraj told Eye Radio on Wednesday.

“We have recovered about eighty percent of our property. Some of them are in the courts, while others have been settled and we have purchased alternative places.

“We managed to retrieve the Al mouled playground, the preaching center, and Juba Scientific Institute.  We have recovered a large area.”

According to the transitional constitution, all land in South Sudan is owned by the people and its usage shall be regulated by the government.

It says community land shall include all lands traditionally and historically held or used by local communities or their members.

The constitution further stipulates that communities and persons enjoying rights in land shall be entitled to prompt and equitable compensation on just terms arising from acquisition or development of land in their areas in the public interest.