Civilians will be disarmed once the disarmament of civil population bill 2023 is passed by the parliament said, FVP Dr. Riek Machar said

File: FVP Dr. Riek Machar Teny and President Salva Kiir Mayardit. 

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FVP Dr. Riek Machar said that, the government will carry out disarmament immediately after the deployment of the unified forces as and also the government is waiting for the parliament to pass the Disarmament of Civil Population Bill 2023. 

South Sudan first vice president made this remarks on Thursday during the National Economic Conference held at Radisson Blu Hotel in Juba South Sudan. 

Dr. Riek Machar also said that, the disarmament exercise will kickoff once the  Disarmament of Civil Population Bill 2023 has been approved into law. 

“The Disarmament of Civil Population Bill 2023 is currently under consideration in parliament after receiving cabinet approval in July,” Dr. Riek stated. 

Numerous calls, have been made for years to disarm the civilians, but the process was hindered due to lack of proper legislation . 

The lawmakers in the year 2020 rejected  the provisional order by president Kiir to disarm civilians, earlier this year the call to disarm civilians was again rejected on the grounds of tardiness it's presentation to the National Assembly. 

After the rejection, the law-makers tasked the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to amend the errors in the provision and present it as a  formal bill. 

“We are currently not in the process of deploying the unified forces. Once the unified forces are deployed, then we can initiate the disarmament process.” Dr. Riek assured. 

Dr. Riek Machar went further to explained that, the law concerning disarmament is currently being reviewed by the legislators. 

“The law is currently under review by the Council of Ministers and is expected to be passed by the national parliament. With this law in place, we will have a solid legal foundation to proceed with the disarmament.” Dr. Riek Machar explained.

Last Month, Information Minister Hon. Michael Makuei Lueth said that, the government had no weapons required to deploy the unified forces because of the arms embargo