More than 20 civilians massacred in Akobo county: MP
November 23, 2015 (RUMBEK) – At least 25 civilians were massacred in cold blood in South Sudan’s Jonglei state county of Akobo county on Sunday, an area lawmaker said.
“The main aim of the massacre was to chase away the Anyuak community from Akobo so that they [the Lou Nuer] take the land by force,” he added.
Among those killed, he stressed, were men, a young child and the older women in Akobo.
“According to the commanding officer, they ordered all the men and children who are boys to be killed, leaving girls and some of their mothers with the intention of raping, misusing them and sexually harass them”, Okony further disclosed.
The lawmaker’s claims could, however, not be independently verified by Sudan Tribune.
Over the years, Akobo county has been awash with reports of human rights violations in the form of sexual harassment and injustices inflicted on civilians by armed elements.
Akobo originally belonged to the Anyuak ethnic communities, but has now been overtaken by Lou Nuer, known for their brutal acts against other tribes in South Sudan.
“The Lou Nuer wanted Akobo for many years and the killings of the innocent Anyuak civilians had been in the process since the 1980s,” the MP claimed, but blamed the South Sudanese government for alleged failure to resolve the historical impasses in the county.
“We the minority need to talk by peaceful means because violence is always not the answer to the problem but if that is the case then we shall try that,” added the lawmaker.
Jonglei, South Sudan’s largest state, was one of the three regions badly hit by the mid-December outbreak of violence that killed tens of thousands of people in the young nation.
(ST)