Security
Security
Security is the state of being free from threats and danger. It is the role of the government to provide security to the people to protect their lives and properties. However, South Sudan has been facing protracted insecurity since independence in 2011 due to the lack of accountable government to provide the security needed by the people.
Tens of thousands of people had been killed, millions had been displaced, and uncountable properties destroyed. The SPLM led government, which should have provided the security, failed and caused insecurity due to the internal power wrangle between their senior leaders resulting in the December 15, 2013 incident that pushed the country back to war. Lack of security in South Sudan begets insecurity resulting in the absence of peace among the populace. South Sudan cannot economically grow and provide essential services to people without a government prioritizing security and peace for the people. Since security and peace are the determining factors for economic growth and nation development, it is a time for South Sudanese to take courage and bring up a government which will prioritize security, peace, and development to positively change the lives of the people to be physically, socially, psychologically, and economically secure.
Insecurity in South Sudan attributes to the SPLM government’s failure to establish a professional army and police and disarm the civil population holding guns which they use to terrorize vulnerable people across the country.
PUF strive to establish a government accountable to the people, the government which will establish professional army and police, the government which will disarm the civil population, the government which will demilitiarize the country, and the government which will docilize the hostile communities.
1.1 Establishment of Professional Army
A professional army is a unit of armed experts serving under civilian authority, entrusted to defend the constitution, the rights, and the interests of the people. Although the major role of an army is to defend the country, the constitution, and the citizens, it assists the police in ensuring internal security exists and provides humanitarian services to the people at the time of disasters.
South Sudan has never been having professional army since time immemorial. What people claim the army is the amalgamation of the different militia groups with different materialistic interests that supersede the national interest and the people’s welfare. The current army does not represent the nation’s interest except the interests of their respective tribal warlords. They rape, displace, and kill civilians perceived to be supporting opponents of their tribal warlords. They do it because they are not trained, lack the ethics of professional army, and have not received the national ideology of defending the constitution, the lives of the people, and their properties. They are tribal militias paying allegiance to their respective tribal warlords. Their brutal action against civilians shows they don’t know what they are doing. If they could have been trained and equipped with the ethics of a professional army, they would not have been doing it.
The SPLM led government intentionally failed to professionalize the army because they intended to capitalize on the state of anarchy to prolong their stay in power and continue looting the national resources for personal gains. They intentionally failed to do it not because they lacked the capacity to do it, but because they lacked political will.
The PUF led government will recruit, train, and equip 120,000 young women and men aged 18-30 (with a minimum completion of secondary education) across the entire country, reflecting the national diversity perspective of the national army for South Sudan.
1.2 Establishment of Professional Police
The professional police is a unit of trained and armed personnel entrusted to enforce laws and orders within a country. The primary roles of police include crime prevention, detection and tracking of criminals, crime investigation, enforcement of laws and orders, and protection of people and their properties. South Sudan has no professional police; the current police forces are a mixture of different militia groups with civilians in police uniforms. The few available trained police personnel are deprived of resources to enable them to ensure that laws and orders are in place. They are corrupt because the government is not paying them to sustain themselves and their families.
The SPLM led government has intentionally neglected police and handed police responsibilities over to the National Security Service (NSS). The incapacity of the police to render its duties to the country is the primary catalyst to urban insecurity in South Sudan. The lack of professional police creates loopholes for criminal to rob, kills, rape, and steal in both urban and rural areas of South Sudan.
The PUF led government will recruit, train, equip, and deploy 118,500 (1,500 personnel per county) educated (minimum of secondary education completion) and strong young women and men aged 18-30 years to police service in South Sudan.
1.3 Demilitiarization of the Country
To demilitiarize mean to disarm and disband militias from operating in the area. The availability of different militia groups with conflicting interests is the major cause of instability in South Sudan. Militias from different tribes of South Sudan have infested the country’s security environment resulting in intercommunal violence conflicts which have claimed many lives, displaced many people, and destroyed uncountable properties across the country.
SPLM led government has been investing national resources in creating and sponsoring different militia groups to counteract the militia groups from their armed political opponents. Every year, SPLM led government bought militias from their armed political opponents but failed to train and fully integrate them into their military system.
The availability of different militia groups in the country without a central command system is the major cause of insecurity in the countryside and along the major highways connecting the country to the neighboring countries. SPLM led government used militias to create a state of anarchy which they used as a stool to prolong their stay in power and facilitate their corruption to loot the country’s resources for their personal gains.
PUF led government will demilitiarize (disarm and disband the militias) the country, bringing an end to the ever-emerging cycle of militia groups in South Sudan.
Civilians’ disarmament is the removal of dangerous weapons from the hands of civilians. Civilians in South Sudan carry dangerous combat modern weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), 12.5 mm machine guns, mortars, and different automatic rifles used to attack vulnerable populations to kill, destroy, displace, and loot resources. The availability of dangerous weapons in the hands of civilians has increased cattle rustling, child abduction, revenge killing, and the high crime rate in South Sudan.
The SPLM led government has failed to remove guns out of the hands of civilians; instead, commanders of their affiliate militias supply weapons to their tribes or clans to defend themselves or attack their perceived enemies.
PUF led government will disarm all civilians carrying guns and deploy professional police among the civil population to protect them with their properties.
1.5 Docilization of Hostile Communities
To docilize means to make the members of a hostile community psychologically docile. The objective is to make the community abandon hostile cultures and behaviors and embraces the culture of peace, tolerance, and justice. Some communities in South Sudan have hostile and harmful traditions and cultures which condone violence, murder, raping, cattle rustling, and child abduction. Some communities are hostile to their internal security as well as the security of their neighboring communities. These hostilities are the major threats to peace and peaceful coexistence in the countryside, and they undermine the overall security of South Sudan.
The SPLM led government has given up and left everything to nature to sort it out, which will never happen because the hostilities grow wider yearly and claims thousands of lives, displaced millions, and destroy uncountable properties.
PUF led government will docilize the hostile communities across South Sudan by investing resources to address underlying causes that led to the hostilities. Introduce compulsory education to the children of hostile communities to change their mindset. Deploy professional policepersons in the areas occupied by the hostile communities. Empower the judiciary system to execute criminals within hostile communities. Fund non-governmental organizations specializing in peacemaking and conflict management to engage the hostile communities.