South Kordofan pastoralists demand they retain arms for protection

The pastoralist groups in Sudan’s South Kordofan have renewed their rejection of the decision to collect weapons in the absence of security in the state and conditioned the collection of weapons with provision of security as a first condition.

Sources told Radio Dabanga from Abbasiya that on Wednesday the arms inventory committee issued a decision allowing people to report their weapons by November 30.

He said there was a difference in attitudes among the locality components, as there was a group calling for disarmament of all sides including pastoral tribes and the Popular Defence Forces (PDF), while the pastoral groups refused to take the step in light of the security instability in the state. They conditioned that the government should protect them so that they can collect weapons.

Witnesses in Delling said that the inventory committee began to open registration and reporting centres for weapons in Delling and Habila and said and that the collection phase has not yet been determined.

They said that the pastoral groups are refusing to collect weapons and demand to keep them in order to protect their property.