South Sudan Army Begins Gun Search Within Juba Ahead Of SPLM/A

South Sudan Army Spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai Koang Confirmed that the current ongoing gun search in the Capital City Juba is part of the preparation of SPLA day which was postponed up-to Thursday next week.  

He also insisted that the major gun search in Juba was as part of security beefing up the security in Juba ahead of the big day. 

He said that “A national holiday brings big crowds together, people of all walks of life, and when there are large crowds of people it is always essential for security precautionary measures to be taken, so that some evil minded people do not plan evil things against us. What we have been doing is to ensure maximum security for the, would be celebrants on the 16th or now on the 23rd, the new date for the celebration. So what we have been doing is a normal beefing up of security within Juba, and doing some house to house searches so that in case there are people who are keeping guns illegally, then this guns are removed from those ones who are supposed to handle them. The intention is to ensure the safety of the people of South Sudan from now on ward.”

The South Sudan People Defence Force Spokesperson also explained why the day was pushed up to Thursday next week “There are three main reasons, one, and we were expecting high turnout of regional and some international dignitaries to grace the occasion as the 36th anniversary as well as the inauguration of the new building. Most of the dignitaries requested for the postponement because there are a lot of schedules. Secondly, we are doing some minor repairs, here and there, putting some final touches on the building, as well as some construction of road that is connecting Bilpam to the main road. We hope to put the final touches maybe in the next five days. The other ones are the logistical arrangement, of course most of these dignitaries are going to stay in hotel and there was need for our logistics to be right. So, these are the three reasons why the celebrations were postponed.”

More to follow shortly.....