Civil society body concerned over rise in communal violence

April 28, 2021 (JUBA) – A civil society organisation has expressed concerns over the increasing cases deaths resulting communal violence and road ambushes across South Sudan in recent months.

CEPO, in a statement, said deaths resulting from communal violence and armed road ambushes in the months of March to April, 2021 have tippled in comparison to the months of January-February 2021.

“In the months of January to February, 2021 CEPO documented over 934 persons killed due to deadly communal violence and armed road ambushes. While in the months of March-April 2021, CEPO documented over 2,509 persons killed due to communal violence and armed road ambushes across the country,” it noted.

43% of the 2,509 deaths, it revealed, were committed in Bahr el Ghazal region with high figures reported in Lakes and Warrap states.

“Lakes and Warrap states require urgent especially intervention on prevention of deadly communal violence,” CEPO said in its report.

The organisation cited limited opportunities for livelihood especially for young aged persons across the country; the continuous political manipulation of the situation by some individuals interested in using violence as ladder for reaching political seat; public frustrations over the slow political transitioning of the situation from violence to peace through the implementation of the peace agreement as the key triggers in the rise of communal violence.

Separately, CEPO strongly condemned the shooting of the Bishop-elect of the Rumbek Diocese, Father Christian Carlassare on April 25.

The 43-year old Italian was shot in the legs at his residence by unidentified assailants, an act South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir described as “shameful”.

(ST)