3 June 2013 - South Sudanese police have added airport security to the growing list of skills they have picked up over the past few months with assistance from UN Police.

The country's first 50 Airport Police Officers of the South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS) graduated from a one-week training course at Juba International Airport today.

The European Union Aviation Security (EUAVSEC) mission conducted the Basic Aviation Security course, selecting 50 officers from the UNMISS-trained Diplomatic Protection Unit.

The aviation training aimed to empower officers in preventing illegal interference against airports, aircraft, crew and passengers.

"Without a fully functioning civil aviation with international standards, South Sudan cannot be expected to attract new airline traffic and boost trade," said Capt. Desmond Ross, Acting Head of the EUAVSEC Mission.

As a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), South Sudan was under surveillance to ensure compliance with required aviation standards, he added.

Although the Airport Police was meant to be a separate specialized unit, the urgent need for aviation security prompted the decision to train officers from the Diplomatic Protection Unit, already trained by UN Police (UNPOL) in some necessary skills.

Since October 2012, UNPOL has trained 150 officers of the Diplomatic Protection Unit to protect the international community, and provided logistical assistance as well as mentoring after deployment.

"Airport security is not up for discussion. We must agree that it is a solid ingredient in the development of any country," said UN Police Commissioner Frederick Yiga.

UN Police has also assisted the SSNPS with training in a myriad of other skills, ranging from controlling traffic to collecting revenue and combating cattle raiding.

Some 53 national and Central Equatoria State police graduated in Juba from an UNPOL-organized course in traffic and accident control on 24 May.

Topics covered in the three-week training included accident reporting, police response mechanisms, community policing, minimizing force against civilians, and alerting suspects before their arrest.

In another six-month UNPOL-assisted course, the first batch of 371 SSNPS immigration officers graduated in Juba on 21 May as revenue collectors.

The 41 women and 330 men took their oaths of office before President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Minister of Interior Major General Alison M. Magaya.

Opening the event, Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan Daniel Deng Bul advised graduates, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."

President Kiir also warned the officers against corrupt practices, wherever they were posted. "If you see my lorry loaded with goods or a new Mercedes Benz that belongs to Salva Kirr in one of our border entry points, arrest it and let me pay. That will be an example."

Minister of Interior Maj. Gen. Alison Monani Magaya said the graduation was "another step in the transformation of the police into a professional and well-disciplined ... service."

Following an additional two-month training in security challenges posed by cattle-raiding, a second batch of 29 SSNPS graduated as members of a Livestock Patrol Unit (LPU) in Malou, Jonglei State, on 18 April.

The LPU is a collaborative effort between the SSNPS, UNMISS, the UN Development Programme and partners, including the governments of Canada, Luxembourg, and the United States, to prevent and combat cattle-raiding in Jonglei.

The rigorous course included physical training, English lessons, field craft, map reading, South Sudanese law, memory training and observation, and criminal interrogation techniques.

"This Livestock Patrol Unit has ... curbed cattle raiding and will continue to curb such practices," Jonglei State Commissioner of Police Maj. General Moses Majok Adol said in a written statement.

The first batch of 42 LPU members, who graduated in February, have already leant weight to the Commissioner's claim. Malou LPU Commander Col. Marco Matiop Riak reported on 5 April that one of his units had stopped a group of cattle raiders and recovered several heads of cattle in Jam village, Jonglei.