Arrow boys get aid from Yambio chiefs

By Richard Ruati

April 30, 2011 (YAMBIO) – The paramount chief of Yambio county who is also the chairperson of traditional authorities in Western Equatoria’s ministry of local government Chief Wilson Peni disclosed that, 25 April he received donations from chiefs of Yambio County as humanitarian aid support.

Chiefs in Yambio county have resorted to taking contributions to support the home guards commonly known as the arrow boys or village vigilantes to boost their operations against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The LRA is a militia originally from northern Uganda. They have been the scourge of the region for many years, mutilating, raping, murdering and abducting citizens.

Arrow boys are local militias who have taken up arms to defend their communities from the LRA.

Peni said that “chiefs of Yambio have so far collected over 21,000 Sudanese pounds [US$7,860] from communities of Yambio county, 89 buckets of maize corn, 108 buckets of dura [sorghum], 150 buckets of cassava flour, 129 buckets of groundnuts [peanuts], 19 bottles of termite oil, 10 packets of table salt, and 18 bottles of honey.”

Village chiefs conducted the exercise of small donations over a three week period.

He added that “the contribution comes as a result of the failure of the Government of Southern Sudan [GOSS] to release the 5 million Sudanese pounds which was approved by the South Sudan legislative assembly to the arrow boys.”

The chief mentioned that as it is time for cultivation, the home guards have vowed to provide protections to their communities to enable them cultivate this year to bolster food supply.

“The small contribution will assist increase the morale of the home guards to comb the bush in new tactics that they have devised against the LRA” he said.

He stated that the scarcity of attacks by the LRA suggests that the arrow boys have almost finished the cruel fighters, hence those remaining are only “looking for food and survival, therefore we cannot give them chance to feed on our food any longer.”

Peni pointed out that the utilisation of the money will be decided by a committee which was already formed, so that the cash is used appropriately and will foster their operations and the food items will be distributed to the home guards at their various camps.

The chief also said that he will tell all the chiefs around Yambio “to contribute with manpower nine youth members and hunters who are environmental-friendly with the dense forest of WES.”

“As a new tactic I will also call upon the nearby counties, like Nzara, Ibba, and Ezo to send more hunters so that we join together and comb the bush once and for all,” stressed Peni.

He disclosed that “Yambio County has been attacked over 18 times this year,” adding that “it seems the target of the LRA is now the state headquarters; therefore the focal point is Yambio.”

Most women and girls from Western Equatoria state who have been abducted and retained by the LRA are taken to serve as “wives” for the LRA commanders.

According to Gloria Isani a former captive “those who do not comply with the sexual demands made on them are beaten or killed.”

Eyewitness tell harrowing stories of the babies which have been born in the LRA camps, and for those young women who would otherwise try to escape and return to their families, the social stigma of having become pregnant under such circumstances adds to their reluctance and fear to return home.

“It is the first step that we have taken, therefore it is now the responsibility of every son and daughter of the state in their various capacities and places worldwide to contribute for the welfare of citizens of the state” he appealed.

Peni urged the communities of Yambio county who have not contributed “to at least give something that will let the state solve the LRA issue forever more specially this year.”

He also called upon the GoSS to release the money which was approved by the regional assembly to foster military action in the fight against the insurgencies of the LRA rebels.

During the Equatoria conference 2011, in Juba, one of the resolutions was the follow up of the SDG5 million, which was approved by the regional assembly by the three governors of Equatoria.

The vice president of GoSS, Riek Machar Teny, in his closing remarks at the Equatoria conference in Juba on the 16 April 2011 disclosed that “the former Joint Integrated Units (JIUs) will be deployed in Western Equatoria to beef up security of the state.

However, there has been criticism against government from citizens of Western Equatoria, many of whom still remember the 2007 incident when three senior police officers were shot dead in Yambio. Members of the JIU were blamed for the killings but no one has ever been tried.

Together with their allies, the Ugandan army have been pursuing the LRA fighters since destroying their basis in Garamba on 14 December 2008.

The military actions have failed to defeat the LRA rebels, however, allowing them to rampage across the regions of Southern Sudan, DRC and CAR for the past three years, leaving thousands Congolese and South Sudanese civilians displaced, abducted and dead.

Despite the system of terror that reigns within the camps and the deadly punishment for showing disloyalty, children do escape from the LRA and make their way to freedom.

The African Union has also taken step to deploy joint operations against the LRA by the members of the three affected countries, according to their reports.

The six-year reign of violence by LRA rebels, mainly in Western Equatoria has scattered thousands of WES citizens. Since the LRA were dislodged from their Garamba park assembly point they stepped up attacks and reprisal killings, burning, looting and abducting many children and women in Western Equatoria.

(ST)