Gunmen kill 4 people in Jonglei’s Bor County
June 23, 2010 (BOR) – At least four (4) people are dead and 2 others injured when gunmen attacked a village in Bor County on Tuesday, officials and relatives say.
A village chief is among those wounded, his brother told the Sudan Tribune.
Villagers accused eastern neighbors, the Murle tribesmen, of Pibor County for the crime.
“Our village is totally empty. All the four young men who guide people as well as the cattle are killed,” said Philip Awan, a relative of the deceased from Makuach Payam.
The attack took place about 16 km east of the state capital, Bor, he told the Sudan Tribune by phone on Tuesday.
A village chief, Akot Mayom whose cattle were targeted by the gunmen was nursing wounds he got from the clashes in Makuach health care unit.
Efforts made to reach the state authorities for comment on the incident were futile by press time but a pick-up carrying a handful of police was seen heading to Makuach at about 5pm local time.
Cattle raiding and child abduction are frequent in Jonglei State. More than 2000 people were killed in 2009 across the southern Sudan’s vast-populous state.
Local authorities blame illegal arms at the hands of civilians. A peaceful disarmament started in January 2010 and covered counties of Bor, Duk, Ayod, Uror, Nyirol and Twic East by March.
The Southern Sudan army, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), then launched guns retrieving exercise in Pibor and Akobo counties. The process however fell short to the satisfaction of the neighboring tribes as child abduction allegedly by Murle continues and without protection from regional organized forces.
Mary Achol, a citizen of Makuach, summaries security in village as under the mercy of God.
“It’s God protecting us,” she said, blaming the SPLA for not providing protection as promised during disarmament process.
On Sunday, a member of the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, Deng Dau Deng, told the Sudan Tribune that 17 people had died, 2 children abducted and about 2,550 heads of cattle stolen in his Twic East Constituency.
Three weeks ago, a child was killed in Makuach Payam and another abducted when gunmen, whom locals suspected to be from Murle community, attacked a home at night.
(ST)