Radio Miraya
2791: Nationwide: UNMISS support to National Police with the Election Security Action Plan
(upbeat music) - Nationwide, we bring you latest current issues, discussions and information. Nationwide, I'm Reggie Miriah. - Hello, good evening. Today, listening to Nationwide. My name is Sami Martin, and we are coming to life from Cuba this evening. And this evening, our discussion is going to be focusing on the United Nations Mission and South Korean support to the National Police Service with election security action plan with just five months to the expected conduct of the general election in the country has announced by the National Election Commission Chair, Pastor Nal last man who said 22nd of December has the date for the election. A two-day training police on the role of security in election process, which emphasized on the need for a comprehensive security plan for a peaceful electoral process concluded this evening or today here in Cuba. The training which was organized by the United Nations Mission and South Sudan is also focused on security plans for election. This training comes, like I said, to just barely five months to the conduct of the general election on the 22nd of December has announced last man by the chairperson of a neck. So with this training here, what contribution will it have to a free, fair and credible election in the country? Like South Sudan, that has never conducted any election since we got independent certainty as a goal. I'm joined here in the studio by two of my guests who are the center of this training of these police officers in South Sudan. I have Darren Scott who is the principal electoral affairs officer, electoral affairs division, United Nations Mission in South Sudan, good evening and welcome to Red and Red. - Good evening, thank you very much. - And then I also have Chris in for a second, police commissioner, United Nations Police and she's also with me here, good evening. And thank you so much for honoring our invitation during your business schedule. - Thank you so much, it's an honor to be here. - Okay, let's begin with Darren Scott. What is the main purpose of this training to this National Police Service officers? - Sure, thank you very much for having both police commissioner and I. The main purpose, just to answer your question, I'll maybe broaden it out just a little bit in that as the United Nations holistically in providing support to any country in their electoral processes, it is at the request of that government itself noting the sovereign role that elections plays in any of our countries, including South Sudan. Last year, the government of South Sudan asked for UN electoral assistance in all areas of the electoral process, if you will, not only to the elections commission or the political parties council in the context of South Sudan, but also in electoral security in the planning thereof and the noting the important role that security plays in any country in the credibility and the integrity of any electoral process. So through and with and in partnership with Unpol and UNDP and the broader UN system and leveraging on the partnership that Unpol has in existence with the National Police Service, we as the UN have worked holistically with the National Police Service and their recently established election security committee in beginning to look at planning and preparations and any support that the United Nations can provide in the initial planning to election security. And so this workshop over the last couple of days labeled as the role of security and electoral processes has been in partnership with the National Police Service directly at the request of IGP, but also with the National Elections Commission there noting that those linkages with the Elections Commission and the National Police Service are fundamental to any kind of election security planning. - Okay, yes, has Unpol police commissioner. What is the composition of these National Police officers who came to attend? How many are we looking at in terms of gender balance and what was the composition, why they're drawn from all over the country or they are only from the headquarters here? - Thank you. No, the whole leadership of the National Police Service, both from the headquarters here in Juba, all the directors for the different divisions and departments and also all the state police commissioners were there, so there was representatives from all 10 states and the three administrative areas. So, it was a good group of people, very experienced police commissioners who's been in service for several, several years and also a good number of people from the headquarters here in Juba. Regarding your gender balance, I'm sorry to say that we were not many, there's no female police commissioners in the state of South Sudan, but there was one general from the headquarters or Luton General from the headquarters and there was one representative from the South Sudan Security Network. So, at least she was representing the idea of having some more females in the police, and I was there the whole time also to monitor this. But it was a very, very good active and engaged workshop. So, I think we took a significant step ahead in really outlining the way forward and how the National Police Service must start to plan and to integrate the thinking of how to prepare for elections. - And why is this kind of training very significant to these elections security committee within the National Police Service at the time when there is a high expectation of conducting election in December, every South Sudanist this day is talking about election in December, why is it very significant? Yes, Darren. - Sure. Well, I'll just maybe expand a bit in terms of that. The role of security and electoral processes is consequential to public trust and public confidence in the electoral process in any country. South Sudan will be no different. Noting and referring to the last electoral exercise that then Southern Sudan went through back in 2010 under Sudan or the referendum for independence in 2011, of which I was here working within the South Sudan referendum bureau here in Juba, as well as some of the police that are here now in the establishment of joint election operations centers, et cetera. And so, across the globe, the national elections management bodies, the neck in this case, ultimately have the overall leadership and oversight of an electoral process, but they can't do it by themselves. So it is security forces that will then be in charge of supporting the security, not only for the polling site, but also in the time before the elections and the pre-elections phase, during the election is also a post-election during county and et cetera. And so the importance of that also is that there's plenty of examples of elections all over the world where the administrative part of elections has been very well administered, but that the elections failed because of a lack of security or a perceived lack of security and mistrust in the process. So that is why it's important for our support, not only to be just the elections commission, but looking at the whole of government support and the critical role that security forces and the National Police Service will play in the electoral process. - Yes, Christine. - Yeah, let me then just fill in because it's also been decided from the government and from the president that it is the National Police Service who will be responsible for the overall security when it comes to elections. So we have discussed this for some time. How do we prepare? How do we help you to prepare for the upcoming elections? And I think this workshop was really a good step, as I said, to enhance and to strengthen the institutional capacity of the National Police Service because they are one of the main stakeholders in the provision of the national security, electoral security, when it comes to providing and to plan for what all the steps in a electoral process, both before, under, and after. And I also think we emphasized several times during the workshop the interlink between the National Police Service and all the other primary stakeholders they must engage in. So we had many good examples. Many of the team from the election team, their in-selection team, they have experience from all over the world. And they refer to many examples for good elections, bad elections where it goes wrong, and how it sells it down now. And they have the time to prepare. There's not many months left for elections, but still it's possible to prepare and to think about all, when you're a police, you have to plan for the worst. And usually it goes better than planned for. But if you plan for all eventualities, you are prepared for what's coming up. And I think we gave them the discussion, opened up for many, many good examples on what to think about. And we had some interactive groups who were working and came up with solutions. So I think it was a very good step. And this is not the last step, because we must, we from Unpol, the United Nation Police, we are here to build capacity for the National Police Service. So this will be the next step. We also discussed and had a very good session on how to be preventive and be realized that women are vulnerable in elections. And we also discussed how can the police provide security, especially for the women. And we also discussed and we think, we were encouraged to make now a program or a short training program. We can do in all the states, together with the local police. So this is something we will work with, together with Darren's team and together with the National Police Service. And because we know women are vulnerable in elections and we need to prevent both sexual violence towards women and also provide secure elections for all people of South Sudan, not only men, but both men and women. - Yes, just over the last two days, after today, you have explained to us what was the content of these two days of training. So what has been agreed so far? - I think we have agreed, well, on several, as I said, this is the first step. We have agreed, we have Election Committee, which is both from the United Nation Police and from Darren, from the UNDP Election Team. So we will continue to work. And then now it's time for the police commissioners to go back to their states, discuss also with the IGP, the Inspector General of the Police. How do we enhance this? How do we work forward? We have just yesterday a team from the standing police capacity, which Unpool has in Italy has arrived here. So we have some experts now on ground for six weeks who will also support the National Police Service in thinking about the Joint Operations Center. How can we monitor when elections comes? How can we monitor the security situation? We will also discuss what is needed now. What does, I think, as I mentioned, we will provide training materials and to work on violence against women in elections, provide that kind of training out in all states. And then we will also engage. We have trained a lot of our Unpool officers the last couple of months together with the Unpassant Election Team. So they're ready now to roll out training programs for all police officers out in the states. So we just need to work with this and get in hand with the National Police Service at all, at overall, and take the next steps. Then we have to do this in good conjunction with the rest of the unmissed team. Yes, from your side, Darren, how from the two days from your side, what has been agreed, what you are going, your office is going to do in supporting this Unpool. Or Unpool together with the National Police Service to ensure that if elections are to happen, as it is announced, women in the area will be protected and vote and go back home safely without being intimidated or anything happening to them like insecurity. For sure, thank you. And maybe just to expand on Police Commissioner's comments that I agree with fully on kind of immediate next steps. And I'm just looking at my notes from some of the concluding remarks of the National Police Service Leadership of the Election Security Committee of the National Police Service a few hours ago. And I think I'll sum it up that corresponds directly with the Madam Police Commissioner's comments in kind of three immediate kind of focus areas. One, supporting on coordination related to election security, both with regard to the National Elections Commission and the role they play in an overall oversight and leadership role, as well as in partnership with and through Unpool support to NPS, in their coordination with the National Elections Commission, but also supporting coordination mechanisms in the broader government structure with other electoral stakeholders, including the security sector, the government, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Interior, National Elections Commission, Political Parties Council, et cetera, for a holistic look at all of government approach to support to preparation for elections, to support in training, which Madam Police Commissioner referenced, both in the areas that police commissioner mentioned, as well as now in the general role of security in elections, and then eventually upon further planning and decisions, training specific to an election security plan once some of the political decisions and clarity comes from the National Election Commission, and thirdly, help with planning itself in terms of the preparations, both in terms of looking at stemming from an election plan that would generate from the elections commission, and then from the tentacles of that, looking at security planning associated to the movement of materials, campaign period, the polling sites and voter registration sites, et cetera. OK, and from your interaction, I know all of you, anyone can answer Madam Police Commissioner, I can come in from your multiple interaction with the police leadership in Juba here and at the state level, and from your two days of training that ended today, are the police in this country ready to provide security and secure a free, fair, credible election? I'm not sure if they're ready exactly today, but I do think they can be ready because we really touched upon many, many of these important things to be-- so they will be ready to conduct themselves. In line of these principles, you mentioned, we emphasize the role of the police. They have to be impartial. They have to play and be transparent in everything they do. They have to be accountable, and they have the integrity. And of course, they also have to uphold the rule of law and professionalism to ensure free, fair, and credible elections the whole process. So I think that we will need to support them and to give them-- because this is the first time South Sudan is doing elections as an independent country. So we will support them, and we will ensure that to give them all experience. That's why we're here. We are here to build capacity and to support the local authorities to the local police. But it's their decisions on what way they want to go forward. It's themselves who have to decide how to plan. But we can support them in at least taking in to consideration all the things you need to plan for and all the logistical things and securities apparatus. You need to have in place to ensure that you can have the credible elections everybody wants. And before our lines are open, just briefly, Madam Police, can you explain more about these experts who are coming to stay in South Sudan for six weeks? What will they be doing? And will they be on a station here in Juba? Will they be going to the States? Because election will not only happen in Juba, but they will happen across the country. This team-- it's the second time this team from the Standing Police capacity, the United Nations Standing Police capacity in Italy. It's the second time they're here. And the first time they were here and they worked very close with us and the election team in UNMIS and in UNDP, then they worked with the overall strategy planning, the workshops. We have trained the trainers. We have rolled out training programs in all states within the unpool police officers. Then we kicked off today or yesterday and today with this overall training with the National Police Service. So now the next coming six weeks, this team will support the election team in UNMIS or the UN election team. And they will support us in rolling out training programs, manuals, building up. How can we build up a secure joint operation center? How can we make sure that all security plans are in place, being thought about, and then we will also-- I'm not sure the team will travel, but they will-- I have field office police commanders in every single state, so we are communicating through them and we'll also make sure they have the right materials and are able now to reach out to the state commissioners who have been here. So we are linking up and we will prepare all the police as best as we can, but all of this is done. It's a partnership between all the people working with the elections in UNMIS. We work hand in hand. We are part of that team and we work hand in hand with UNDP and all other stakeholders. I think I will leave it to Darren to explain more about this. Sure, just to expand on that and I fully agree. But really, I think it's almost been in partnership with the National Police Service, kind of strategic in terms of this leadership workshop that just concluded today a few hours ago, noting that just to re-emphasize that this was something that was at the request of IGP and also it included the entire leadership of National Police Service in South Sudan, which is significant in and of itself, focused on planning preparations, understanding their important role associated to electoral security and obviously in partnership with the National Elections Commission, who is also present in the workshop. And this team that has come in from the Standing Police Capacity Unit of Unpole, it was almost strategic in that they arrived yesterday. And part of their role over the next six weeks is to start working with following up on the work that they did when they were here a few months ago, but also specifically, I think, to take forward some of the action points in coordination, planning, and training as a result and conclusion of this workshop, in line with what Madam Police Commissioner mentioned. - Right, and if you have just joined us right now, we have two of my guests here in the studio. You can also send us your question to our SMS number, 091-217-141, or you can call us on 092-9686-297. And I will be putting the questions you are raising to my two guests, Darren Scott, who is the principal electoral affairs officer, electoral affairs division of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. And we have Madam Cristin for Sen Police Commissioner of the United Nations or Unpole. We are discussing about the two days training of the National Police Service on the role of security in the electoral process, which concluded this afternoon here in Juba, and all the 10 police commissioners across the country, I should say, maybe here in Juba now, because they will be travelling maybe back to their respective states from tomorrow. And also, we have experts from the standing police capacity who are in Juba. They are going to be here for six weeks and to begin building the capacity of the National Police Service, as we prepare for the expected conduct of the general election come December 22nd, 2024. If it happens or not, that question is meant to be answered by another body within the government system. How we are talking about today is about the training to these police. Yes, we do have a couple of questions coming in here. This is coming from Maurice. Maurice is writing from Juba here and says, my question goes to Darren. These police officers are they unified police officers or these are police officers who have been the regular police officers, because we have to be within the context of the agreement. Are these unified police officers or these are just the regular police officers who will be doing that? Another question is coming in from Jackson here in Trumping, Juba. And he says, I would like to thank the United Nations Mission in South Sudan for supporting the people of South Sudan all the time. He says, OK, what criteria will the UN be giving? What kind of advice will the UN give to the National Police to ensure that they bring in energetic police officers who will be strong enough during the conduct of election not to bring people who are almost on pension and who cannot handle these. These are the two questions. The last one is when will you roll out the programs to the states? This similar training that ended today in Juba, do you have any plan to conduct it in one of the states? Like, for example, in Apanae region, Malakal, in Barakza region, in Wau. That is coming from Deng in Wau, Western Barakza state. Yes, Madam Police Commissioner, and Darin Scott, these are the three questions. Sure, thanks very much. And I'll start with Morris's question with regard to the police officers and referencing the agreement and the unification of forces including the police. The training that took place today and our daily work with the National Police Service is the current police force that is there. And as the implementation of the RCAS continues and the unification of forces including the police continues, then further trainings will take place as that happens. And so that's the status in terms of our-- OK, yes, Madam Police Commissioner. Yeah, I can just ensure that we are training-- or the workshop has been with the police commissioner in function right now. And that's the police that's been always there. The unified forces, there's not many who have deployed yet. But we are ready to support to train them when they will be deployed and then they will be included in all trainings as a unified force. So we are fully aware of this and we are discussing it with the leadership of the National Police Service. And we're ready to support when they will be deployed. And the second question is investing in competent police officers who can deliver so that your effort of funding this training does not go in vain. It's up to the IGP and his state commissioner to select the ones they want to train. And then we train the police who are there, who are in the functions, who are-- so it's not for us to select that we will train you and you and not you. So we train the officers who are-- we send out the invitation to the IGP and the Inspector General of the Police and to the state commissioners. And then we invite the local police station or the local force or whoever-- where we are supposed to do a training. And then we invite them and they come forward with the officers they think we should train. OK. So that's a selection and a decision that lies within the National Police Service. OK. Then in a while, rolling out the training to the states, not only in Juba. No, no, we will roll out in all states. When specifically we will do in Malakal or Upper Nile or in Benq or in Wao, I don't really know yet. But we will, of course, train all in all states. And we will-- we have also trained the trainers already in our own United Nation police. And we have officers in every state. And we have officers in Pibor and some of the administrative areas. So we will make sure that all stakeholders who are relevant for the National Police Service to conduct security will be trained from our side if desired from the National Police Service. We will do so. OK. Majak Enborg, John Gell state, is asking Darren. And he says, beside the support you are giving to the National Police Service, what other role will enemies be playing in supporting if elections happen so that we have a free fair election in South Sudan that has never conducted the election before? That's for Majak Enborg. Yes. Sure. Thank you very much. And thank you, Majak Enborg, for your question. The UN Integrated Electoral Assistance Team, which includes UNMUS, UNDP, and ultimately all agencies, funds, and programs, works to provide support holistically to South Sudan's first electoral process as an independent sovereign state. In that, principally, it is working day-to-day with the Elections Commission as they begin to organize themselves and begin to plan and prepare for the elections, both here at the national level in Juba, but also as the state high election committees that just last month were sworn in to begin working with them at the state level as well in their planning and preparation as further clarity on the electoral process emerges. And that ultimately becomes something holistic in terms of support from training to ultimately civic and voter education associated to the elections, planning related to voter registration and elections. And then, obviously, we've been talking in terms of support related to election security and the important role security plays. OK. And still, you can send us your question to our SMS number or you can call us direct on 092-9686-297 or you can send us your question to SMS number 091-2177141. My name is Sane Martin, and I have two guests here. Darren Scott, who is the principal electoral affairs officer, electoral affairs division of the United Nations mission in South Sudan. And we have the UN Police Commissioner, Adam Christian for saying this is here with me. And we are discussing about the just concluded today's training to the National Police Service on Election Security Action Plan, where all the 10 police commissions across the country were brought to Juba. And to conclude today, you have heard from them. Hello, everybody. Hello. [PHONE RINGING] Hello. Yes, Adam Martin. Your name? Good evening. [INAUDIBLE] Tumbra County. OK, Tumbra County of Western Ecuador said, go ahead. Yep. The first question is, now the police have spent 10 months without their salaries. How will they really manage to keep the security perfect? This is one tool. I wanted just to know, how sure are they that they have 20 people, only for two days? How sure are they? Thank you. Have a good evening. Yes, we have another question coming from Isaac Tang in Ben Thio, the United States. And it goes to Madame Police Commissioner. What are your expected challenges? Which you think the police who are expected to exhibit their maximum ability during this election may face? What are the challenges you anticipate to happen? Maybe the police may face during this election process if they are to happen. This one from Tumbra County of Western Ecuador states says that 10 months, the police have not been paid. And do you think they can deliver during election if it happens, because there are a lot of anticipation. Another question was, two days training, is it enough? Just two days? Or you may continue. Like I said, you have just mentioned that the experts from the standing police capacity, they're here for six weeks. And they will continue from where you have left today. So maybe go ahead. Let's begin with that, darling. Sure. Thank you very much. Maybe I'll just-- I'll start with the last there in terms of the expected or how-- the issue about the two-day training. Very good question. But this is just the start. This was ultimately what the leadership, the police commissioners from all states, and the leadership of NPS here at headquarters in Juba. Now it's one in terms of where the real work begins in terms of planning, preparations associated to election security planning, coordination, et cetera, and the role of security forces for then further rollouts to the hundreds of police across the country on their role and the understanding thereof and that coordination. So the answer is no. Two days would not be near enough on that. This is the beginning of a process to get to elections. And there'll be many other trainings and activities looking forward. Yes. Ten months, salary, no payment. And you're expecting the support to be at their best. Well, if you ask-- thank you for the question. And before I go to the ten months without salary, I would like just to follow up on what Darren said about the two days training. This is far. This was just the start. And it was just the leadership to get them to think and to really realize how much planning that's ahead. There was an awareness raising about all the challenges there is in conducting elections and also the preparations that needs to be done under coordination. And I think we also must factor in one other thing. This was the state, all the state police commissioners, and they have to go back to their states. And the states, the local states, counties, the PIMs, they will have local challenges. So it might not be the same challenge security wise in a pronounced state as it will be in Todit. So we're in border and Pboard. So you need to also-- this was just a kickoff, a start to get everything moving. And then we need to work from our side, and also from the-- this is the National Police Service Responsibility. We will support them, but they need to look into their local challenges. What is most important to cover here? How do we do with this, the voter registration, or the protection of women, and so forth? So there is a lot of logistical challenges, and you have to really go down and see what is the challenges on ground here. When it comes to the 10 months without salary, I hope they can be paid. Of course, it's important for all police officers or all government officials to receive their needed salary. So we encourage the government to do so, but that's in the hands of the authorities to do so. We don't, unfortunately, we don't have the money to do that. So we just hope, and of course, they will conduct better if they are paid as they should. So hopefully this will come in place. So we really can have motivated and well-fit for fights, all police officers in all states and all government officials. OK. Two questions before we conclude. We have this question coming in from Amasho from WOW. Amasho is asking about how sure are you for these forces to maintain security during these expected election, because most of these police officers are affiliated to political parties. And number two is asking, this is another question coming in. If election does not happen, and you're going on to train these officers, is that a waste of time and resources, that's from Ruel in Juba here. Another question saying this has already been answered. When will the training be conducted in the states? Because we are left to do it in a few months. It has just been answered a short while ago. Another question coming in here from Malakal. This is coming from Dang Nin in Malakal. It says South Sudanese are not always honest to the training they have given. So many trainings have been given to most people in the country, but at the end of the day, they don't practice what-- or they don't implement what they were given. So is there a follow-up of this training to ensure that these police commissioners and the senior police leadership exactly conduct a similar training? In their respective states, we will do a follow-up on that. That's from Malakal. OK, thank you. That was many questions. Let me start, and I will hand over-- some of them are-- we are linked very closely together here. But let me start with the last questions about the follow-up. Yes, as we have said, this was just a start. And it was not-- it was more an awareness workshop. It was more to pinpoint all the challenges that lie ahead when you're going to conduct elections, and you are police officers with responsibility. These are high ranked police officers who are responsible for planning, organizing cooperation, and all these things that need to be done in preparing and doing elections. So I think we have answered that we will follow-up, and we will also make sure that this is rolled out in the states, and we will support them. But also, it has to be an upon the request for the state commissioners and from the IGP and from the NIC, what is needed, and we will also monitor and work closely. We're here all the time to support the National Police Service in preparing and conducting elections. So we will be here. I didn't answer the question about what are your expected challenges in elections. I think this South Sudan is a post-conflict country, and so it is many challenges. And you just mentioned the economic situation, the lack of salary, the-- [INAUDIBLE] The flooding is coming, and there's a lot of challenges. So I think we have taken all of them into account, and we have discussed them also with the local during this workshop. And I think there's many challenges, which is in all countries. There's always local challenges when you're doing elections. So we have to prepare for the worst, and we have to take into all-- that's why planning, planning and thinking ahead and really looking into all the challenges is so important. I think what if elections not happen? I think I will leave that to Darren, because that, of course, can also create some security issues. Yeah. But let me hand over. Yeah. Sure. Thank you very much, police commissioner. To Raul in Juba for the good question about, will this be a waste of time if elections don't happen as scheduled? And the short answer is no. That regardless of elections in December or whenever, the need for training of police, of civil society, of the engagement of political parties, women, other stakeholders, and training of the Elections Commission is needed for South Sudan's electoral process and any electoral process. So in that, this is the beginning of a support journey in partnership with South Sudan for their first elections as an independent sovereign state. So I would say in that the need for trainings now, regardless of when elections were to take place, it needs to start. I'll just also maybe add on the question with regard to how sure can police protect referring to some level of politicization. Part of this training and the role of security forces and elections is the importance of impartiality in the process. And two, it's one of the importance of the prevention of election violence, noting that it's not only post-confident countries that have electoral violence. Many people referred to in the training over the last couple of days, very rightly so, of the electoral violence that has been seen in the United States over the last electoral process, that we all saw on TV and, you know, regularly see. And so it's one in terms of the engagement, early engagement of society and civil society and awareness raising and community policing and awareness of an engagement of all electoral stakeholders as part of that prevention of electoral violence. Thank you so much, Madam Police Commissioner, for coming to our studio. And also, that in his court, we will have enough time to talk to you some other time. Thank you both for coming. Thank you. Can I just add? Yes, go ahead. I just want to say I'm 100% and I fully, fully incur with Darren. It's not wasted. It's never wasted to train good police officers. Yeah. That will always build capacity. They know that you will remain with you, whether election happens or not. Yes. Thank you both for coming and I appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you very much. And with that, we have come to the end of the first hour. That was Darren's court. The principal electoral affairs officer, electoral affairs division of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. And also, you had the police commissioner of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, Madam Christian for Sin. And my name is Sani Martin. The news is coming next.