After Juba killing, South Sudan parliament discuss tribal conflict

March 13, 2012 (JUBA) – Various politicians spoke in the South Sudan parliament on Monday about the problem of tribal conflict, in the wake of an attack in Juba on 4 March.

Timothy Tut Chol, a member of the Upper Nile state assembly, said there were “grave and appalling reports of atrocities and abuses” from MP for Juba, Paul Yoane Bonju who explained that eight people were killed in the Komiro area in a land dispute.   

“What happened is actually what is happening in other areas,” the country’s minister of investment, Alfred Lado Gore, told members of the National Legislative Assembly in a debate chaired by the speaker of the house, James Wani Igga, on Monday. 

Malakal, Yei, and Wau are also subject to tribal disputes according to Gore who described seeing an incident in Malakal in 2009 resulting in the death 20 people.

“We are living in a state where those with the gun see themselves as everything because we inherited a system that sees citizens as subordinate to the army,” said Gore.

Nyanachiek Nhial Majit, a member of parliament from Jonglei State said the culture of tribal conflict must end.

Media access to the scene of the crime in Juba was allegedly restricted, hence the confusion regarding the details of the incident.

Central Equatoria state deputy, Mananse Lomole Waya, said all the sides can be blamed for the killings in Komiru.

Waya claimed that a member of the Nuer ethnic group hired four Mundri youths to construct his fence. The leader of the group became involved in a conflict with a Bari youth from Komiru on 4 March, who did not want the fence to be constructed, claiming it was illegal in relation to land rights. The dispute escalated, with bows and arrows being used and then firearms.

After the attack, Waya claimed, members of the Nuer ethnic group went on a rampage in the area on 5 March.

With the development of South Sudan there has been mass migration to the capital, Juba. This area of South Sudan is tradtionally associated with a minority group, the Bari. With the continued development of Juba, land rights are liable to continue to be problematic.

This is one of the reasons why Ramciel, Lakes state is being proposed as a new capital for South Sudan.

(ST)