JUBA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Wednesday inked a deal with the Regional Center on Small Arms (RCESA) to strengthen efforts to ratify the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and rein in conflicts and violent crime.
Andrew Kuol Nyuon, chairperson of Bureau for Community Security and Small Arms Control, said the commission is conducting a nationwide campaign to enlighten key stakeholders on the need to support the treaty that bans illicit flow of small arms.
Nyuon said 70 percent deaths in South Sudan are linked with unregulated flow of small arms, adding that as the bureau they are committed to championing the control and reduction of small arms and light weapons in the country.
"Our people are dying daily because of small arms so this is one of the key reasons as a country to adopt all treaties that are a concern with prevention of small arms," said Nyuon.
He said the arms trade treaty is a supplementary instrument to the Nairobi protocol, which was adopted in 2014 by the Great Lakes Region, the horn of Africa including the bordering states to control arms in the region.
Badreldin Elamin Abdelgadir, executive secretary of RCESA, lauded Juba's commitment to tackle illicit flow small arms and light weapons through speeding efforts to ratify the treaty.
"South Sudan is very collaborative about ratifying the small arms treaty as we have already witnessed deliberations are ongoing and I am sure that lawmakers will soon reach a decision that will support the country politically and practically and that is our target," Abdelgadir said.
He said the ratification of the treaty will help South Sudan to have efficient control and management of small arms and light weapons, adding that it will pave way for effective law enforcement, accountability, and good governance.
The UN in 2013 adopted the Arms Trade Treaty that requires states to assess the risk of weapons being used in violation of international human rights and humanitarian law.
