Dinka Bor-Mundari fighting: The crux of the matter

By John Actually

October 8, 2009 –It is a great failure and duplicity to South Sudan to report a controversial root cause of the Bor-Mundari fighting which has already claimed at least 40 lives on both sides. What has happened between Mundari and Bor reflects how weak our government is, to the enemies of peace in the south. We had given actors enough time to do their stunts and it is time to report the realities to the world.

The early report which said “Dinka Bor cattle destroyed the Mundari farm, who then protested angrily and was shot dead” was not the root basis. Instead, a Mundari who attempted theft of Dinka Bor pastoralists’ cattle was shot dead before crossing the River Nile as he so anticipated. Community members at both sides came for identification of this thief and nobody showed up as a relative to the deceased thief, and there then, all pledged normal peace, citing that the deceased was a renowned thief in the area. The Mundari later retaliated blindly, and contrary to their denial, killing two persons before a heavy fighting broke out the following Friday.

It could clearly be asserted here that, not all Mundari are as such, but the few and the ongoing supporters of this fighting are either lawless or thieves because they are condoning thieves and they retaliated for a rejected social outcast as they first agreed. The SPLA stationed at Mangala witnessed the Wednesday’s incident and set free the Dinka young men after thorough and intensive investigation from the local people of Mundari, about who the thief was. There were no people found among the Mundaris to be kin men to the deceased as early stated. All they said was that the deceased was a thief and nobody cares about his death.

The worse came to worst the following day when a huge armed group of Mundari launched an attack at Wuorbar cattle camp when they were about to leave for Bor. This first attack left two Dinka Bor dead and many others were maimed, forcing them to postpone their journey. Later in the day, a heavy fighting broke out at the cattle camp which resulted into more lives lost on both sides.

The second controversial subject is the degree of devastation done to Mundari villages. The statement as quoted by Sudan tribune October 6, 2009. “Authorities said about 20 Mundari villages have been burnt to ashes” is null and void quotation as confirmed, in statements published in the same source, by both Commissioner of Terekeka County Mr Juma Ali Malou and assistant Civil Administrator of Pariak, Mr Beer Ngong Majuot who counted only sixteen villages. However, the Mundari at Sudan safari are living peacefully with Dinka Bor, hence no earth scorched policy applied there.

The third subject is statement by some media houses, which articulates that the clashes “were sparked by an argument between a Mundari farmer and Dinka Bor cattle keepers after the Dinka Bor cattle destroyed the Mundari farm, who then protested angrily and was shot dead”, is completely a clumsy report because all the Mundari crops were harvested last month and fields are left open to cows and goats to grass and browse on hays.

Dinka Bor pastoralists started to move early this year from Central and Eastern Equartoria states after being force by the two state government through GoSS saying that the pastoralists interferes with their agricultural activities. The first ten group passed through Juba-Bor road when the crops were still virgin and reached their homes without any fighting occurring between the two sides.

Our concern as South sudan citizens is to impart the benefits of peaceful co-existent to our civil societies so that GoSS has enough time to initiate and implement developmental projects in the country.

The writer is the student at Dr. John Garang Institute in Jonglei and be reached by [email protected]