20 March 2012 – The South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar called on members of the Murle ethnic group to surrender their weapons to the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) during a visit today to the Jonglei State towns of Pibor and Manyabol.

Accompanied by Jonglei Governor Kuol Manyang Juuk, the vice president said that Murle chiefs and youths had a key role to play in ensuring that the week-old disarmament campaign is comprehensive.

Without peace, he added, any improvement in the delivery of public services would be impossible.

"You cannot expect services from your government when your area is insecure and engulfed in retaliatory attacks," Mr. Machar told an audience of mostly women and children during a stopover in Manyabol. "And that is why we need this disarmament."

The vice president also called upon the Murle community to release children from other ethnic groups who have been abducted during the tribal fighting that has plagued Jonglei State in recent months.

Mr. Machar spoke of plans to hold a major peace conference involving all of the state's major ethnic groups after the disarmament campaign has concluded.

But some of the Murle residents who attended the meetings with the vice president and the state governor accused the SPLA and the government of fomenting the escalating inter-communal violence that has devastated communities across the state.

Hundreds of Murle civilians are believed to have died in attacks carried out in Pibor County by mostly Lou Nuer youths at the end of last year, and that triggered a fresh round of retaliatory raids by Murle gunmen in other Jonglei State counties.

"We are very disappointed in you because you know that your army and politicians are involved but you didn't punish them," said Chief Matthew Logochor, who handed in his AK-47 assault rifle during the meeting in Manyabol. "We are going to give you the weapons but we need your protection. We need water, we need schools, we need hospitals and food."

The vice president reminded local residents of the dangers associated with the possession of firearms in their households.

"Those arms are life threatening to you and your children," said Mr. Machar. "It's a source of insecurity to you and the entire community in the state."

"We want your security to depend on Police and the army, not on your youth," he added.

To date, about 500 weapons have been collected in Pibor County including 300 in Pibor Town, according to Lt. Gen. Kuol Deim Kuol, the SPLA commander in charge of civilian disarmament in Jonglei. By comparison, an estimated 5,000 guns have been handed over in the state capital of Bor.

"The process is going on peacefully with the voluntary help from chiefs as well as the politicians," said Lt. Gen. Koul. "They have returned to talk to their communities about the necessity of disarmament."