Hundreds killed as fresh ethnic clashes erupt in South Sudan’s Jonglei state
Photo/MACHEL AMOS
Activists march in Juba, protesting against the slow government response as ethnic violence eats up Jonglei state, marring the peace day, on March 12, 2012.
What you need to know:
- Group of 3,000 people from Pibor launched an attack in Akobo that sparked fighting and resulted in deaths and injuries, says minister
Hundreds of people have been killed and several others are missing in fresh fighting between two rival ethnic groups in the troubled Jonglei state in South Sudan, officials said on Sunday.
This comes ahead of a disarmament drive slated for mid this month.
The fighting erupted on Friday morning in cattle camps in Akobo County when armed men from Pibor crossed into the area from the Ethiopia border and launched an attack, Jonglei state’s Local Government minister Duop Lam said.
“There was a heavy clash and more than 500 people were killed or are missing. I hear that there are more than 200 people injured,” said Lam.
“They mobilised themselves into a group of not less than 3,000. They are now moving back to the Murle land. The army was in Akobo, so these people went through the Ethiopian border,” said Lam, referring to the attackers whom he said came from Pibor.
The army spokesman, Col Philip Aguer Panyang, said “many people were killed and many cattle stolen”.
“I am told that the attack was big. It was a big attack by the armed Murle group,” said Col Panyang.
Earlier, the army said it had deployed about 10,000 soldiers in all the 11 counties of the state to carry out disarmament and provide protection to the already disarmed communities.
Col Panyang said it was not clear how the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Akobo failed to buffer the attack.
The Murle of Pibor and the Lou-Nuer of Akobo hold long-standing hostilities over cattle, grazing land and water points.
The prevalence of the clashes and the magnitude of the damage caused have been exacerbated by the presence of illicit arms in the hands of the civilians.
The Friday deadly clash comes hot on the heels of a voluntary disarmament programme mid this month in which President Salva Kiir said he would not tolerate resistance from the armed ethnic youth.
More than 3,000 people are reported to have died in such waves of violence in Jonglei state since January.
Ethnic hostilities have threatened to undermine the stability of Africa’s newest state since independence last July.
Additional reporting by AFP
