UN-built prison training centre opens in southern Sudan

A prison staff training centre in southern Sudan has opened as part of efforts by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to rehabilitate the country’s dilapidated prison service and to help reintegrate former combatants from the north-south civil war into civilian life.

The Lologo regional training centre, which opened yesterday, is expected to receive up to 1,500 ex-soldiers from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the former rebel group from the south, over the next six months, UNDP said in a press release.

The first 550 ex-soldiers have started on a three-month orientation course, while specialist courses will also be offered soon to train instructors, welfare officers, medical officers and management.

UNDP is jointly funding the project with the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and the training will be undertaken by instructors from the Sudanese prison service and staff from the rule of law and corrections team with the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

Jafet Enriquez, UNDP’s Head of Office, said the agency “is committed to supporting the building of effective and accountable governance and rule of law institutions.”

He announced that the agency is building its second prison centre in Rumbek, southern Sudan.

The prison service improvement programme is part of UNDP’s efforts to implement the January 2005 comprehensive peace agreement that ended the 21-year civil war between north and south in Sudan.