20 reported killed and 37 wounded in Lakes-Warap herders conflict
By Manyang Mayom
April 26, 2009 (RUMBEK) – Twenty people were killed as well as 37 wounded on Friday clashes at a cattle camp called Yar, said Lakes State Deputy Speaker Hon. Marik Nanga Marik, who had been to the fighting zone in Rumbek North before arriving back in Lakes state.
Marik told Sudan Tribune that among the 20 dead, one is a very old woman and another two are young women, while 16 are very young youth who were killed on the spot. He said that the Lakes state governor has failed to send police to the conflict zone and very surprisingly took away the county commissioner of Rumbek North County on the same day and travelled with him to Warap state.
The lawmaker was referencing a visit on Friday to part of Warap by teams from both Warap and Lakes state governments, including Lakes Governor Daniel Awet Akot, where they walked to Agugi village, the site of a mass rape incident that had recently taken place against 28 Bongo women.
“There is no protection in Rumbek North County,” affirmed the deputy speaker. “This is now fourth period in which the payam was attacked since the signing of CPA in 2005.”
Also in the separate incident that happened on Saturday night at Aber, a group of robbers hijacked a government car and opened fire, though nobody got injured or killed. But the car engine is not working any longer.
According to an official source in Warap state, where the two states governments are holding heated talk over the rape case, the talks are reported to be dragging on at an endless stage because Warap officials lack trust in the Lakes state government. Meanwhile, Commissioner Kongor Deng Kongo of Cueibet County — the county from which the attack stemmed — has aired out his apologies to the Bongo people, criticizing Lakes youth for making their own government voiceless toward other states.
Violence across state lines occurred in late March as well, when youth of the Cueibet Gok clan launched a flashpoint assault into Warap territories, following unexpectedly after a peace conference between parliamentarians of the two states.
(ST)