South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Benjamin Takpiny
The Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) , Edmund Yakani has urged the government to develop youth engagement initiatives to keep them away from crimes.
“There is a need for the country especially state government to adopt youth engagement initiatives that strongly contribute in distancing the youth from gang related activities or grouping,” said Yakani in statement issued in Juba on Thursday.
He said that the recent trend of youth engaging in criminal gangs across the country is a disturbing trend that poses serious threat for the future generation of the country.
“The growth of the culture of gang grouping among the youth is triggered by them not being engaged in anything that offers them the opportunity of planning for their respective future,” said Yakani.
His remarks come in the wake of the police crackdown on criminal gangs in Juba and other major towns in South Sudan.
Yakani said that the directive recently issued by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Gen. Atem Marol Biar to clampdown on criminal gangs is short term solution, which may not deter crime in the long-run.
“The great criminals are the individuals that supply the drugs to be consumed by the youth. Normally these individuals who supply the drugs are at position of being protected by some government authorities,” he said.
He said that the crackdown on youth criminal gangs across the country should help police and other security institutions to also crackdown the network of the individuals supplying the drugs consumed by the youth.
“It is essential that the police should crackdown on the gang groups in legal manner not in unlawful approach,” said Yakani.
Yakani urged the National Ministry of Youth and Sports together with the state ministries of youth and sports to get engaged in holding some strategic discussions on prevention of youth from joining criminal gangs.
“The National Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Interior should design joint intervention with state ministries of youth and sports on resolving this problem of youth affiliation to criminal gangs. The national government should support the national ministry of youth and sports to pursue this strategy,” he said.
Yakani urged the political leadership to support the national ministry of youth and sports to undertake strategic approach for preventing the growing culture of youth forming violent gang groupings across the country.
According to police sources, over 100 youth have been arrested since the operation was declared on the eve of Christmas last year.
