Central Equatoria state Information Minister Samuel Soba blamed a rise in crime in Juba on the arrival of people displaced by the country’s ongoing violence.

“There is crime in the town, and when a place develops crimes develops,” he said. “The government is facing challenges in providing security. The security force is small, there is the issue of complicated crimes. Criminals come with a different level of crimes that is above the level of our security personnel.”

Soba acknowledged that security has become a huge challenge for authorities, especially with the start of Christmas celebrations next week.

“Criminals usually attack during holiday seasons, because people are busy and are not focusing on protecting their houses,” he said. “So we don’t want that type of carelessness to occur so that [criminals] do not use that as an opportunity.”

He called on the state governor to request more police and military reinforcements to be trained and then deployed to protect citizens. They could be deployed to churches and on night patrols, he suggested, in a bid to curb crimes.