177 people killed after attack on Jonglei’s Akobo
By Philip Thon Aleu
April 21, 2009 (BOR) — At least 177 people died and many more injured in Akobo County following an attack by Murle armed rustlers last Saturday, officials said. Twelve (12) villages are burnt to ashes and thousands of people are displaced to Akobo town, area Member of Parliament Hon. James Ruot told the Sudan Tribune here on Tuesday.
The fighting ended on Sunday, he said, but many people; bulky of them children are still missing.
Burkamal, Chiban, Chikol, Kony, Kueychar, Ubor and Wit areas came under heavy attacks from Murle tribesmen Saturday morning initially killing 14 people and injuring 25 others. It could not be confirmed yet how many children are abducted or how many people are wounded, Mr. Ruot say, but the local authorities are working on that.
The attack, which appears in new dimension, occurred when cattle are in Toch (swampy land between rivers) rising fears that tribal conflict has taken a new trend.
“The commissioner counted 177 bodies yesterday [Monday] in the seven areas attacked,” said Hon Ruot adding “but many people are still missing.”
He said the raid is not revenge “because this is their work. They [Murle] use to abduct children.” But Akobo Commissioner Doyak Chol Dhol told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the contest could be revenge since there are cattle in the affected villages.
In one case, 50 children drown in a river while fleeing the fighting, Akobo Commissioner Doyak Chol Dhol claimed. Jonglei authorities confirmed the death toll and call for immediate cessation of inter-tribal hostilities.
Akobo is a vital town eastern of the State capital Bor Town and one of the areas much hit during the two decades south-north war of Sudan. Murle assault on Akobo, a Lou-Nuer county, comes a month after the later launched a retaliatory attack in Pibor County destroying Likuangule, Murle’s second largest town.
Some 750 people died on both sides but Lou-Nuer Youth Association officially puts the figure at 457 including 203 from their villages’ youths. A fighting also erupted between Bor and Murle at Mach-abol, their epicenter, left scores dead over two weeks ago.
Tension has built up in Jonglei state following these inter-tribal conflicts as politicians now believe that intellectuals are behind these wrangles. External factors are also believed to be deteriorating the situation in the Southern role model State of Jonglei where the south-north Sudan rebellion started in 1983. Many different militia groups operated in Jonglei State during the two decades civil war ended by 2005’s south-north peace accord commonly known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
But insecurity, rooted in the inter-tribal cattle raiding and child abduction challenges the peaceful co-existence of the people here. Illegal possession of arms by civilians has worsened the situation. Disarmament, as decreed by Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit last year, is unachievable since politicians, UN and human rights organization disagree on the forceful methods and where to begin the exercise. Vast sections of men, who were part of the militia groups and formally supported by South Sudan’s former enemy – the Khartoum government remain at large with their guns. Sources of ammunitions use to feed their RK47 remain a big question mark.
Meanwhile, State Deputy Governor Hussein Mar Nyuot met Monday with United Nations agencies on the Akobo crisis. The meeting resolved a joint assessment by Jonglei State and UN agencies to the causalities resulting from the fighting in order to assist the victims.
(ST)