Notable Zande chief murdered by Ugandan rebels

January 21, 2009 (LONDON) – The chief of Bamani, which lies in Ibba County in Western Equatoria state (WES), was murdered by the LRA in his house at 2:00 a.m. on January 19, said Charles Kisanga, chairman of Western Equatoria Azande Community World-Wide Organisation.

Chief Gordon Jalal Ngirimo of Bamani boma in Nabanga Payam was killed along with a woman and two children were abducted two children as the guerillas fled to the forest with loot.

Kisanga, who issued a statement from the United Kingdom based on official and youth sources in WES, decried the act as “barbaric” and called on all able-bodied men of the state “to march for freedom and survival by joining hands with villagers and forming vigilant groups of SPLA Patriotic forces who can patrol all the areas and engage LRA.”

“I’m appealing to the youth and young men of all ages of the South Sudan to register and join the SPLA Patriotic Defence group for WES so that we can take on these terrorists and annihilate them from Equatoria and South Sudan. Our peace today is also the peace for the whole of South Sudan,” said Kisanga.

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in part has moved into Southern Sudan from bases in Garamba National Park in DR Congo, where a joint attack by the three governments of Uganda, Southern Sudan and DR Congo attempted to destroy the guerillas in late December. The LRA has terrorized northern Uganda and other areas since the late 1980s, though there strength was until recently thought to have declines significantly in recent years as support from the Sudanese intelligence apparatus had dried up.

Kisanga said his community appeals to the international community to channel aid for refugees and displaced, who number over 30,000 in WES. He noted that Ezo county alone has 8,000 refugees and displaced people, living with no shelter or food.

“We also appeal for moral and martial support for the people trying to fight the LRA and remove them from Equatoria. We are quite sure the Comprehensive Peace Agreement cannot survive with such atrocities ongoing because the result of insecurity can mean people rejecting CPA and looking for alternatives soon. Hence it can be more rewarding in supporting our people to drive LRA out than singing mere words of support for CPA.”

The slain chief, Jalal Ngirimo, is the descendent of the Zande chief called Ngirimo who together with Gbudue Ngirimo was a warrior who managed to stop conquerors like the Europeans and the Arabs at the beginning of the twentieth century.

“The death of Ngirimo’s son in a simple manner like that at the hands of LRA testify to the suffering of the people of Western Equatoria with nobody to defend them where the GoSS Government is careless and is busy with its tribal politics,” said Kisanga.

Since December 20, 2008 in WES up to 120 people had been killed and over a hundred kidnapped by LRA. Thousands have also poured into WES from Congo DR after attacks there by LRA killed more than 625 people since December 2008, according to reports from local NGOs and officials.

(ST)