President Kiir warns politicians against inciting citizens
February 16, 2015 (RUMBEK) – South Sudan leader, Salva Kiir has warned politicians from Lakes state against inciting citizens, saying it has encouraged cycles of violence.
“You have to unite first as intellectuals and to meet the entire community as one body because there is no point in fighting. The general chief of staff informed me that there was an incident which happened while we were on Wulu road where a person was killed on the way to Rumbek,” said Kiir.
“Please stop such acts. If we continue hiding criminals, they shall outnumber our population later on and it would be dangerous for people who hide them,” he added.
He blamed the politicians and local leaders for allegedly inciting grass root youth.
Lakes state has been blighted by cattle raiding since South Sudan’s independence from Sudan on 9 July, 2011 and continues in a cycle of inter-clan revenge clashes.
FOUR KILLED
Meanwhile, four people were reportedly killed in separate attacks in the state on Saturday.
“In the first incident, an elderly man was shot dead in a cattle camp in Marial-bek while three others were killed in road ambushes south of Rumbek Central county along Wulu road,” a Criminal Investigation Department official told Sudan Tribune by phone.
These attacks coincided with president Kiir’s visit to Rumbek on Saturday.
Lake state’s Rumbek East, Rumbek Central, Cueibet and Rumbek North counties are considered the worst-affected by the current cycle of revenge killings.
(ST)