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Sudan Tribune

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Lakes State lawmakers condemn violence during disarmament processs

By Manyang Mayom

September 10, 2008 (RUMBEK) – The Lakes State Legislative Assembly condemned “disarmament atrocities” after a series of events in Rumbek town Monday that resulted in at least seven people severely or fatally injured and thousands of Sudanese pounds looted from local businessmen.

In a letter addressed to Governor Lt. Gen. Daniel Awet Akot, the Lakes State parliament protested the manner of disarmament in Rumbek town. “The August House deliberated … and unanimously resolved” that the governor must appear before the parliament on Thursday to brief the members on the disarmament process, the statement said. The lawmakers also temporarily suspended the disarmament process in Rumbek.

Seven civilians were admitted to Rumbek Hospital on Monday evening with severe or fatal injuries after a shooting by SPLA soldiers in the market. The forces had been ordered to enter houses and search them for weapons.

Full details of the incident have not yet emerged, and the number of victims is still indefinite. Unconfirmed and conflicting reports indicate that two or three have died. The deceased are said to be Nyitur Chuar Akol, a 60-year-old grandmother who was reported to be in critical condition with a gunshot wound in the head, and two unidentified victims.

Five or six others suffered critical gunshot wounds, including a nine-year-old shot in the knee, another youth shot in the chest, and a soldier in the wildlife service who suffered wounds to his stomach and buttock. Three individuals were discharged from the hospital recently with minor injuries.

The deputy speaker of the Lakes State Legislative Assembly is also wounded after being severely beaten in a separate incident.

The Lakes State Council of Ministers has formed a committee to investigate losses and report to Governor Akot, according to Jeremiah Telar, the Acting Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, who briefed legislators.

Telar said that the Lakes State executive received a report that 17 mobile phones were looted along with cash amounts confiscated from local business that include 9,500 US dollars, 21,739 Sudanese pounds, 13,000 Kenyan shillings and 50,000 Ugandan shillings. These figures do not include cash looted from Ministries.

“We are very grateful to the Lakes State communities in Rumbek Town for having persevered this atrocious act,” said the legislature’s statement, which was signed by
Hon. Isaiah Alier Mashinkok, the speaker of the assembly.

Mashinkok was careful to clarify that “the honorable members are not disobeying the Government of South Sudan presidential decree that orders disarmament to be carried out in all Southern Sudan, but we as lawmakers are seeking” to resolve “problems intensifying against Rumbek civilians.”

In an e-mail exchange with Sudan Tribune, Akolde Jinub, a resident of Rumbek, declared that the shooting “casts a dark shadow and fear among the communities of Lakes State and the finger of blame is directed not only to Governor Daniel Awet but also to Government of South Sudan (GoSS) President Salva Kiir Mayardit for decreeing a shoot-to-kill order in regards to disarmament process and to this respect President Kiir and Daniel Awet owe Lakes State citizens an answer for the use of excessive force in Lakes State.”

Civilian disarmament had been scheduled to take place from June-Dec 2008. The battalion carrying out the operations allegedly has seized vehicles at gun-point, beaten and looted, raped women in Yirol, Pacong and Akot and caused relief supplies from Khartoum and East Africa to be diverted in favor of transporting soldiers around Lakes state.

Jinub was adamant in his statement that disarmament has done more harm than good, adding, “I am therefore calling upon president Kiir to lift his deadly decree of May 22, 2008 of a shoot-to-kill disarmament process not only in Lakes State but to all ten States of the GoSS so as to maintain the status quo of the Southerners and to realize their vision for the New Sudan of Peace, unity, total freedom and liberty.”

(ST)

(Editing by Daniel Van Oudenaren)

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