Aerial view of Gudele suburb in Juba City - Photo credit: Koang Pal Chang/Eye Radio, November 6, 2023
Some members of the public have criticized allegedly “aggressive” behavior of security personnel conducting nighttime search operations on motorists in Juba City and called for rescheduling of security check points to late hours.
The reaction come after security officers opened fire separately on two vehicles for allegedly bypassing security check points on Tuesday. The shooting left one motorist injured.
Meanwhile, members of the public said the soldiers deployed to Juba streets are not well mannered and often subject road users to harassment.
They said the commencement of deployment of joint force on the roads from 7 O’clock in the evening – is too early and creates inconveniences to the road users.
Some of them, who spoke to Eye Radio’s Sundown Show, suggested that the security checks be carried out at midnight to enable to citizens go about their daily lives without interruptions.
Others called on the commanders to check their forces before placement to avoid deployment of drunk soldiers.
“To me, it is not just about maintaining the security, they are creating inconveniences to the civilians specially from early evening like 7 O’clock, I really don’t know what these people want?,” said one of the callers, who chose to be named only as Banjang.
“In Juba, at 7 O’clock it is already in the hands of the soldiers and this is not fine in the eyes of the citizens. Sometimes they harass civilians specially those with small cars and even take money from them.”
Another caller named only as Lagu, said: “Whenever you go evening hours for church and all that, you find that the people who are checking you are very drunk and whenever you see around, you don’t see any commander.”
He said the nighttime security personnel are often found in places there is darkness, do not accept any explanation from the motorists apart demanding unnecessary documents.
“I have witnessed a road, mostly our neighbors fall into these problems. Whenever they encounter foreigners driving at night or even walking at night, they start asking for some documents that are not necessary, that are not even there.”
On Wednesday, the spokesperson of South Sudan People’s Défense Force said the sporadic gunfire in Juba the other day was meant to stop two motorists who refused to be searched by security personnel at two checkpoints.
Major General Lul Ruai Koang said the two violators were stopped by the joint operation at Kololo and Dr. John Garang Mausoleum, but they sped ahead.
On his part, another caller named Kony, said civilians are often scared by the security forces and are likely to run away because they are stopped at gunpoint.
“You don’t stop someone on gunpoint even when he runs away because this attempt is deadly and these are civilians driving cars.”
“In every check point, they should have cars to enable them follow those who violate the security check so he or she can be stopped and detained for investigation.”
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