Central Equatoria Governor said the army’s low pay is a challenging issue in South Sudan.
Clement Wani Konga said army salaries are so low that the soldiers cannot support their families and take their children to school and health centres.The governor was talking on Wednesday in a meeting with the Acting Head of Bureau for Community Security and Small Arms Control in the national ministry of Interior Riek Gok Majok.
Mr Konga advocated for the installation of proper storage systems in the state and the country to reduce small arms in the hands of local people.
Dr Gok said he was able to collect 3,700 different types of guns from civilians since 2005.
He added that Juba and every state should have guns storage facilities.
He underlined the need for proper record keeping by buying a marking machine for all collected arms so that each organized force marks its guns and develops a database.
China Programme for a Safer World head Bernardo Mariani said the existence of small arms in the country can increase problems and clashes.
He added that small arms collection in the country is not the only solution to solve the country’s challenges.
The European community raised the disarmament issue with the Central Equatoria Governor as one of the strategies for South Sudan to reduce illegal small arms possession.