SSPDF soldiers ride on a boat on the Nile river on their way to Aleleo, Fashoda State, on October 16, 2016 | Credit | FP/ Charles Atiki Lomodong

Offer soldiers basic services in an attempt to reduce criminal activities in the country, a church leader has appealed to the government.

Since the outbreak of conflict in December 2013, soldiers have been accused of looting and disobeying lawful orders.

Many Juba residents often report incidents of armed robbery carried out by men in uniform.

They say some robbers demand money and electronics; while others take away food items such as flour, oil and beans.

President Salva Kiir and Defense Minister Kuol Manyang also confirmed this by publicly saying that these are members of the National Security, police service and SSPDF.

Experts blame this on poor pay, continuous late payment of salaries and poor living conditions.

Daniel Deng Bul, retired Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, says for South Sudan to be a stable country, the government must offer basic services to the army and other organized forces.

“They are not receiving salaries. They are not been giving basic services properly. That is why sometimes you find that some of them they go off point,” he stressed.

“So if we want to this country to be safe, let us take care of the army; let us take care of the police.

“Giving them food, give them salaries, give them basic services like health and all these and their children are in the schools.

“If you do that for that for the army, you will have a very decent army.”

Archbishop Deng was speaking to Eye Radio during a security review forum organized by CEPO in partnership with Strategic Defense and Security Review Board.

The strategic Defense and security review Board is one of the agreement mechanism mandated to develop strategic security assessment and legal framework, policy document, revised defense policy document and come up with future security models that will determine the size of the organized forces.