Kampala, 30/10/2007
 
UGANDA TO TRAIN SOUTH SUDAN POLICE FORCE FOLLOWING VISIT BY MINISTERS

BY LEO ODERA OMOLO
 
UGANDA the semi-autonomous government has finalized the arrangement to train new recruited policemen for Sudan.
 
Plans are also underway for the building of a new railway that will link up the Nothern town of  Gulu and Juba the capital of Southern Sudan.
 
Ugandan Ministers agreed the project according to her Internal Affairs Minister of Uganda Matia Kasaija during a recent visit to the South Sudan capital of Juba. This visit was meant for creating a conducive environment for the trade between the two countries.
 
Plan are also a foot to improve the road as one way of enhancing security in the South Sudan, Minister Kasaija attributed the insecurity faced by Ugandan traders in Juba, to decades of wars and the total collapse of state infrastructures.
 
“South Sudan is trying its best level to help them build capacity .In our talks with their Inspector General of Police, we agreed that we will assist in building their police force. But the biggest constraint said the Minister was the lack of human resources.
 
“We asked them (the Sudanese) for 100 qualified young men and women to train as police officers, but they could not find them. No education has been going on in the Southern Sudan for the last 40 years” said Kasaija.
 
The Ugandan state Minister for defense Ruth Namkabirwa,who was part of the visiting Uganda delegation to the South Sudan said the SPLA was trying to disarm the civilians who had been causing instability.
 
“South Sudan has been at war for the last 40 years and has only known a real state barely two years. Many institutions are just being built now.” Mr Kasaija said during press briefing in Kampala.
 
During a recent search ,thousands military uniforms were recovered from people who have been posing as SPLA soldiers and setting up fake road blocks”said the Minister.
 
Addressing a public rally in Juba the Ugandan Ministers advised the Ugandan businessmen and traders to observe the law until order in South Sudan was fully restored.
 
“We have different characters in Juba “noted the state Minister for Regional Cooperation Isaac Musumba. Some of them rob fellow Ugandans .We are requesting those doing business in Juba not to fake people along because they spoil things for the genuine traders”
 
About the large number of Ugandan lingering in Juba prisons, Minister Musumba said Uganda has agreed with Southern Sudan authorities to review many of the pending cases.
While in Juba, the Ugandan Ministers also addressed issues of double taxation on Ugandan goods, immigration and a legal system to redress disputes
 
Ends
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