UN project to improve prisons and police in southern Sudan wins grant

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank have agreed to a $5.3 million grant to increase the capacity of the police and improve the standard of prisons across southern Sudan, which is trying to rebuild after two decades of brutal civil war.

A Southern Sudanese trust fund administered by the World Bank is financing the grant, which was signed by UNDP and World Bank officials on Tuesday, the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reported.

Under the agreement, UNDP will build a network of police stations and training centres, train police forces, provide equipment and help develop a code of ethics to enhance police professionalism.

The infrastructure of southern Sudan’s prisons will be improved and receive more equipment, while there will also be staff training to ensure there is more humane treatment of prisoners.

UNDP is one of numerous UN agencies and programmes operating across southern Sudan, the scene of most of the fighting during the decades-long north-south civil war that ended with a comprehensive peace agreement in January 2005 and is separate from the conflict in the Darfur region.

The trust fund administered by the World Bank has already numerous projects, including a scheme to provide medical supplies to 840 hospitals and clinics, the renovation of government offices, the erection of 100 new primary schools and the delivery of some 40,000 education kits and 950,000 textbooks to primary schools.