The rise in crime in Eastern Equatoria State has been caused by the high levels of unemployment, according youth leaders in the State.
Samson Lokiru, the Secretary General for Eastern Equatoria State Youth Union, said that youth unemployment has led to rise in incidents of armed robberies and cattle raiding in many counties of the State.
“yYouth are not employed and they are just loitering around within the State, sometimes they end up doing wrong things like highway robbery and again we also have high rate of cattle raiding in other counties,” said Lokiru in a n interview with The Juba Echo on Saturday in Torit.
“If you visit Torit prison you will find that the majority of inmates are youth, we requested peace partners to establish multi-purpose youth centers to allow youth to interact among themselves, it will bring young people together and we will have various programs,” he added.
Remzi Monday Lowi, a 25- year- old youth from Kapoeta South County and a first-year student of clinical medicine at Torit Health Science Institute, said that the newly opened multi-purpose centers built by the Un High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Torit and Magwi Counties, will provide platform for youth from diverse backgrounds to interact and associate with one another.
“The youth are redundant and these new youth centers youth will be for social interactions, this (Torit) center is going to bring youth together, and it will also promote peace,” said Lowi.
Marget Idwa Okuye, the Eastern Equatoria State Minister for Youth, Culture and Sports, appreciated UNHCR and the European Union for building the two multi-purpose youth centers in the State.
“We appreciate the efforts exerted by UNHCR, we have already known the purpose of these youth centers, these centers were built for the returnees in order to empower them to engage in various activities that can be a turning point in their lives,” said Okuye.
Bosco Ongee, a youth leader from Magwi County said that youth in the State have for long been divided by conflicts, adding the newly built youth centers provide opportunity to unite the youth.
