Tribal fighting displaces one thousand in Western Equatoria

By By Richard Ruati

January 14, 2009 (MVOLO, Western Equatoria) — Tribal fighting killed two, and injured four people and displaced nearly one thousand of civilians, mostly women and children, in the county of Mvolo in Western Equatoria State early this month, top state government official said.

“The fighting in Mvolo County broke out early in late December 2008 between the Dinka Agar tribe and the indigenous Jur over cattle and other livestock around the town of Mvolo,” government source was quoted as saying.

Analysts who follow Mvolo County say the Dinka Agar and Jur tribes are in dispute over land ownership rights for cattle grazing.

“Dinka Agar across the neighboring state of Lakes raided some cattle of the Jur on the 31st December 2008 but the police in the area intervened and recovered the stolen cattle a situation which forced the Dinka Agar to launch attack on civilians killing two people and four people injured,” said Wilson Moga the SRRC Secretary of Mvolo County.

The areas rocked by this include; Mukundi, Bed Badai, Kombi on the east of Mvolo County and most of the displaced includes Mvolo County on the north part of the county on the road to Mapordit.

Moga stressed to the deputy governor who visited the place on January 9, 2009 that, “a lady among the displaced gave birth under a tree but unfortunately the child died due to the harsh condition in the bush.”

He pointed that, “women and the youths of Mvolo now say that the Government of South Sudan has forgotten them that is why the cattle keepers of Dinka Agar are armed with Guns to kill them.” He urged and appealed for urgent Government intervention to solve this problem so that the displaced can return to their homes and be able to “harvest what they have in the garden.”

“People were left without the bare necessities,” worried Moga.

The majority of the displaced sought shelter under trees and on a nearby seasonal river where water was readily available but their living conditions could “quickly deteriorate” with winter approaching, the SRRC statement worded.

Col Joseph Ngere Paciko, Deputy of Governor of WES recommends to organize “reconciliation, peace and Justice between, the local chiefs and elders of the Western Equatoria and Lakes states.” He affirmed that the situation is being contained down by the state authorities.

Col Ngere noted that the cattle keepers, who are also acting like armed robbers, “are possessing large amount weaponry.” He added “the gangs have confiscated fifteen Thuraya satellite phones, various travelers and seized thousands of Sudanese pounds from businessmen who entered into their ambushes.”

The possession of firearms by cattle owners causes bigger security threat to southern Sudan and WES in particular. Similar tribal fight plunged WES before into ethnic cleansing in late 2006.

A reconciliation dialogue was organized by the then WES government headed by Brig Patrick Zamoi, the reconciliation had made tremendous progress in most parties of WES, but Mvolo county has witnessed more of such attacks, more than three times since 2006, simply because cattle keepers from neighboring Lakes state have paid deaf ears to the dialogue conference which was held in 2006.

The Southern Sudan’s semi-autonomous regional government held an extra-ordinary meeting last Wednesday and discussed the growing insecurity situation in the region.

The GOSS Council of Ministers passed a number of resolutions in the light of general insecurity situation, the random shootings and continuous murder of people in Juba town and the escalating attacks on the civil population by the Ugandan rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), [but] the meeting did not resolve on the insecurity posed by the cattle keepers widely in southern Sudan.

“Once again, civilians are bearing the brunt of fighting in Mvolo County,” said honorable member from Mvolo County, who requested anonymity.

(ST)