Ambororo kill one and injure two in Bangala along Tambura – Nagero road, Western Equatoria state
December 28, 2010 (TAMBURA) – Members of the nomadic Ambororo tribe are reported to have killed one and injured two in a clash with local vigil ante group, known as the Arrow Boys in Bangala, which is about 25 miles on Tambura–Nagero road.
In an interview with Sudan Tribune, the county commissioner of Tambura County Charles Ngbamisi Babiro said, “the Ambororo who were on their way out of the territory of the state, have made a U-turn back to the state near border with Central African Republic.”
He disclosed that according to Arrow Boys, or home guards, the man who was shot Matthew Marikpe, “was shot in a cross fire in an ambush laid by the Ambororo, as they refused to leave Western Equatoria.”
Babiro revealed that “after the declaration by the Ambororo not exit the Bangala area where they are settled now, he agreed with his counterpart to reinforce the home guards of Bangala in Tambura County.”
The commissioner further said “the corpse was found 5 days after he was shot, between rocks in a thick forest.”
With the huge numbers of the cattle nomads, Babiro disclosed that “they have mobilized the home guards together with the organized forces to move them out of the territory.”
However, he stated that “county authorities are using peaceful means to make the Ambororo leave the territory of the state, but if they revenge then legitimate force will be applied to push them out of the Western Equatoria State.”
The government of Western Equatoria State started a peace dialogue with the Ambororo since 2005 until towards the end of this year they started to leave Western Equatoria.
Earlier the Falata General Chief Suleiman Mohammad Suleiman, who has worked with the state government for the peaceful evacuation of the nomads from the state said “most of the Ambororo have left Nagero heading to Western Bahr El Ghazal state.”
The whole process which started on the 27th July 2010 in Nangume, through Sue River, ended on the 26th of October 2010.
The majority of the population targeted by the Ambororo comes from the Zande tribes, which make up a large percentage of Western Equatoria’s population. Traditionally engaged in big farming—the word Zande means “land owners” in the local Pazande language—Zande tribes living in South Sudan and northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, have also been targeted by Ugandan rebel movement the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
The Ambororo are nomadic cattle herders originally from Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, Mali, and Niger. There are many Ambororo groups with different cultures and languages.
Many are Muslims although some groups practice animism. The Ambororo tribe arrived in LRA affected areas of Central African Republican (CAR), Sudan, and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) relatively recently.
As nomadic herders, the Ambororo frequently come across the LRA while travelling in the bush in search of pastureland. The grazing patterns of the Mbororo herders have also created tensions with local Zande farmers, who feel their land is threatened by the pastoralists’ cows.
But unlike in Southern Sudan and northeastern Congo, the Ambororo in CAR have settled in towns like Mboki and Obo and have intermarried with the Zande.
These marriages are most often unions between Ambororo men and Zande women. Settling might account for the relatively good relationships between the Ambororo and Zande in CAR. This is not the case in Congo and South Sudan where the Ambororo are frequently accused of collaborating the LRA.
(ST)