Police commissioners across the country will be held accountable for any gunshots fired during the Christmas festivities and beyond.

The Inspector General of Police, Pieng Deng Kuol has told Eye Radio that organized forces should conduct themselves with professionalism and discipline while protecting citizens during the celebrations:

“I will try to appeal to all our citizens or the organized forces who will be carrying guns that it is forbidden to fire shots in the air neither during Christmas nor New Year’s Eve, and we are going to lay security arrangement to prevent this from happening.”

Lieutenant General Pieng said 24 hour patrols will be carried out along major roads and localities to ensure that people are safe.

Pieng also said that Juba has been divided into twelve zones to make monitoring and provision of security easy.

“We will make sure that officials in charge of the area in question are held answerable to those incidences, and we are very serious about that,” he added.

Pieng Deng said 20 specialized police cars will be deployed throughout Juba.

Last year, several people were injured when armed men shot randomly in the air during celebrations in Juba.