Inter-communal violence rocks University of Juba

March 27, 2012 (JUBA) – Inter-communal violence erupted on Tuesday in the main campus of the University of Juba in the South Sudan’s capital, leaving several students wounded.

Eyewitnesses told the Sudan Tribune that the violence erupted at 11am when two groups of students from Greater Equatoria and Dinka communities clashed, throwing stones at each other and using knives.

A number of students were wounded from both sides before the fighting was halted when police intervened.

The Deputy Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Salva Mathok Gengdit, who visited the University after the violent incident, said the cause of the fighting will be investigated.

Speaking to the students and the university administration in the campus on Tuesday afternoon, Mathok urged the students to leave behind tribalism and co-exist in peace and harmony.

Thousands of students from various South Sudanese communities are enrolled at the university.

Sources disclosed that the inter-communal violence erupted after an argument between students from both communities inside the campus.

Police were deployed in and around the university on the Tuesday to calm the situation and imposed restriction of movement of the students.

In 2010 there were similar clashes on campus between students from the Dinka and Nuer communities, leaving a number of students wounded.

(ST)