Jonglei: Bor County commissioner urges army and police to apprehend suspected raiders
August 14, 2012 (BOR) – Hundreds of heads of cattle were reportedly looted from Koscar village of Pibor County on Saturday August 11, according to the Bor County commissioner, who said he had ordered both the army and the police to follow the criminals who escaped with the cattle.
Commissioner Lual, who condemned the act, said his office received the report on Sunday from his colleagues in Pibor County, adding that the raiders clashed with the South Sudanese army (SPLA) near Anyidi Payam of Bor County, three kilometres away from the town, leaving two raiders with injuries and eight cattle dead.
The commissioner said he is not yet aware about “the number of raiders and the cattle raided”, saying the cattle will be returned to owners once rescued.
Two raiders were injured in the raid but one managed to escape and has gone into hiding. The commissioner visited the Anyidi town with the some officers from Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and ordered the arrest of the chiefs responsible for the wounded raiders.
A resource close to Anyidi told Sudan Tribune that the people with injuries “sneaked into the community after where they are believed to be hiding, and are receiving their medical treatment locally”.
“The chiefs are innocent, but we are keeping them to provide us with more information about the raiders”, he said.
Lual said he met Pibor County commissioner Joshua Konyi, who was on his way from Juba back to Pibor (the two meet at Bor Airport before Konyi left by plane to Pibor) and briefed him on the measures he has taken against the raiders.
The Bor commissioner said that the raiders were moving in “zigzag” fashion to try and avoid capture with the stolen cattle but that the army and police “are doing their best to rescue the cattle and arrest the raiders”.
Earlier this year South Sudan’s army and police carried out a mass disarmament campaign to try and reduce violence and cattle raiding in the country’s largest state.
(ST)