Youth Clash With Security Forces In Wau Clashes erupted this morning in Wau, Western Bahr el Ghazal State between the youth and the state security forces after groups organized a procession to the state Council of Ministers to present their petition demanding the release of their colleagues said to be under state security detention. 09 December 2012 By James Deng Dimo
JUBA, 09 December 2012 [Gurtong] - Witnesses say the situation is “tense” at the South Sudan Central Bank area near the wildlife department headquarters in Wau and that dead bodies could be seen on the street. Gurtong did not reach the security for a comment but the state government Spokesperson and Information Minister, Derrick Alfred Uya said the situation is normal and denies any death reports. They said the battle erupted just minutes when the procession was due to enter the council of ministers offices. Death Casualties and injuries statistic report are not established but the shooting can still be heard. Wau County Youth protests began in October after the state government decided to transfer Jur River and Wau counties headquarters out of the town and a mayor to administrate the city upon the state transition constitution of taking towns to the people. On Friday, Wau County Commissioner Elia Kamilo Dimo called an emergency meeting with county youth, intellectuals, elders and government officials to try and resolve the conflict where youth from Bagari area were demonstrating and blocking the road linking the town. The commissioner said that they are in contact with the youth to prevent them from taking the law into their hands but use their representatives at the state assembly. Demo said that there is no doubt there is some political instigation behind the problem by some people who were in the state government to incite violence. The roads in the area remained closed with the youth blocking any officials from going through. However the other civilians are moving freely. The governor last month urged Members of Parliament to create dialogue between the local community and government on the dispute over county headquarter transfer. Former Commissioner John Miskin had resigned after a group of youth from Wau County alleged that he had mobilised youth to attack government officials travelling from the capital to Bagari, the proposed area for Wau County headquarters. The commissioner was supposed to be among the officials but did not join the team as he remained in his office during time. The commissioner resigned over what the state government described as him refusing to move the county headquarters outside town. Last month, some tribes had rejected the idea of moving their headquarters as proposed by the state governor Rizik Zackaria Hassan saying that it is creating tension between the state government and the community. The attack was an attempt by the politicians to prevent and reject the government from taking the services to the people as the headquarters are moved. The move to take the two counties, Jur River and Wau to the rural areas was in line with the former SPLM leader Dr John Garang’s vision to take the town to the rural areas in order to control the rural- urban migration. Posted in: Home, Governance -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
