Small Arms Bureau

Head of Bureau:
Maj Gen Daniel Deng Lual

Mission:

As an agency under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Bureau’s mission is to address the threat posed by the proliferation of small arms and community insecurity to peace and development in South Sudan according to its mandate. The Bureau works to achieve this by:

• Mobilising, consolidating and building bridges between communities, government at all levels and law enforcement agencies that are tasked to carry out peaceful and voluntary civilian disarmament;
• Advocating and leading the efforts on the formulation of small arms control policies and regulations;
• Facilitating RSS solutions to address the root causes of community insecurity, through development, rule of law and peace building measures.

Principles:

The Bureau shall be guided by a number of principles in its approach to civilian disarmament, small arms control and community security:

• Disarmament must aspire voluntarism, facilitated through comprehensive sensitisation and awareness and consultation campaigns to the highest extent possible, and not generate community insecurity through the use of unwarranted force and/or lack of proper storage of collected weapons;
• Disarmament should enhance and not hamper the build-up of rule of law, and must therefore be carried out with full respect to the basic rights as captured within the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan – while a legal basis for civilian arms possession should be established and adopted by the legislative body;
• A comprehensive approach capturing the interdependent aspects of security, peace dividends and small arms control measures and strategies;
• A people-driven and participatory approach, including community policing mechanisms.

Objectives of the Bureau
The overall objective of the Bureau is to contribute to strengthening the rule of law through the reduction in the civilian possession of illegal arms by supporting the arms control in tandem with livelihood measures.

In fulfilling its main objective, the Bureau will be engaging in 5 different areas, as outlined below.

Raising awareness, sensitising and disseminating information on small arms issues at local, State and central levels.

The Bureau shall undertake information dissemination and community consultation meetings across communities in South Sudan, outlining its key mandate, strategic goals and ultimately areas of responsibility. These meetings will invite participants to interactive sessions to provide their feedback and concerns on the root causes, best practices and solutions to community insecurity as they see it.

As a result, five distinguishable mechanisms used by the Bureau under this objective are:

• Public Information campaigns:
• Radio, Television and Newspaper outlets on the key community 
security and arms control messages;
• Public information materials;
• Key messages from religious figures and elders. 

• State level information dissemination meetings:
• In consultation with state governors for regular and systematic 
meetings to provide a stable ground for RSS policy formulation in the area of community security and small arms control, while also informing stakeholders at national and international level of the realities on the ground;
• Combining top-bottom/bottom-up approach by informing citizens about RSS perspective on CSSAC whilst directly gathering community feedback on the topic. 

• Community consultation meetings and PRA assessments:
• Identification and prioritisation of conflict sensitive development 
projects:
• First stage: Consultation with political leadership at State and 
county levels for the identification of development projects;
• Second stage: PRA training of communities including local 
government officials, women groups, youth and elders;
• Third stage: Application of the PRA assessment tools to analyse community insecurity and possible solutions, and the review 
and prioritisation of conflict sensitive development projects as identified by the political leadership.

• Generic community consultation meetings to capture aspects to CSAC, such as Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), Community based policing (CBP).
• Gender aspects to armed violence:
• Advocating and enable improved mechanisms for the participation and 
empowerment of women at local, state and national levels to address 
armed violence and provide solutions;
• Ensure that gender dimensions to development projects are captured 
and implemented;
• Advocate for the implementation of its gender policy as developed by 
RECSA.
• Engaging with civil society
• Forming partnerships at HQ and State level with national and 
international NGOs to ensure effective outreach structures at local 
levels of communities;
• Engage and encourage a participatory approach in its engagement with 
communities, ranging religious assemblies, elders, women and youth.

Functions:

The functions and duties of the Bureau at the RSS Government level include:

• Design community security and small arms control programme that will include a range of complementary interventions, including small arms control, development and rule of law that together aim to improve community security
• Coordinate ad mobilize technical, financial and material support of partners and undertake joint planning with partners for its activities
• Coordinate, monitor and report on the implementation of the regional and international small arms control agreements within South Sudan
• Lead the development and review South Sudan Small Arms Control policy and legislation, in coordination with concerned RSS Government ministries and stakeholders
• Conduct research and assessments in collaboration with stakeholders at the state and county levels
• Contribute to the provision of information and analysis of community security risks to RSS Government
• Develop an effective early warning and response system
• Encourage coordination and integration of CSSAC policy and planning with other relevant security, peace-building, and development policies and programmes
• Coordinate and collaborate with concerned RSS Government ministries, commissions, law enforcement agencies, state and local governments, and partners to support their actions to implement CSSAC policies
• Initiate and chair technical working committees tasked with different aspects of CSSAC policy formulation, planning and implementation
• Coordinate the review and development of stockpile management policies, plans and procedures, in collaboration with the SPLA and law enforcement agencies
• Develop public information strategies and sensitization campaigns on CSSAC activities to raise awareness of RSS Government policies, laws and plans and to promote change in public attitudes towards small arms
• Develop concepts for holistic approaches to addressing insecurity in particular geographic areas
• Develop and implement human resource, operational and technical policies, guidelines and procedures for the Bureau’s operations and activities to ensure accountable and effective delivery to communities
• Enter into memoranda of understanding between the Bureau and partners in order to fulfil this mandate

The functions and duties of the Bureau at the state and county levels include:

• Facilitate the participation of civil society, community and other stakeholders in the development and implementation of state/county CSSAC plans
• Coordinate and support state and local government, law enforcement agencies and partners to implement Southern Sudan’s small arms control policy and legislation
• Coordinate and support state and local government, law enforcement agencies and partners to develop and implement state/county CSSAC plans
• Lead assessments and consultations as required developing, prioritizing and monitoring responses to common insecurity
• Monitor, evaluate and report on the development and implementation of state/county CSSAC plans and on other issues pertaining to CSSAC as required

The functions, duties and vested powers of the Bureau at the national, regional and international level include:

• Coordinate with and represent South Sudan in the activities of the Sudan National Focal Point, National Focal Point in other countries, and Regional Centre on Small Arms (RESCA)
• Recommend modalities for coordinating Southern Sudan’s CSSAC activities with the GNU and northern states and for developing CSSAC programming in the three areas, in accordance with the CPA
• Report to relevant national, regional and international bodies on South Sudan’s progress in addressing CSSAC issues and implementing regional and international small arms control agreements

The Bureau may engage in such other functions and exercise such other powers as conferred upon it by or under the provisions of the ICSS, the presidency, the provisions of this mandate and/or any other law.

Structure:
The BCSSAC is led by the Head assisted by:

• Deputy Head
• Legal Advisor
• Focal Points
• Directors (Small Arms Control; Capacity Building; Administration and Finance; Community Security)

Publications and Documents:

• Bureau Mandate
• Annual Report 2009
• Concept Paper for Disarmament of Civilians
• Report on Khartoum and regional visits
• Second Khartoum visit

Contacts:

Joseph J. Morrow
Director for Capacity Building
+211-909603180
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Brig. Gen. (ret.) Christo Fataki
Director for Small Arms Control
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