Jonglei: 6 killed, 4 injured and 1 child abducted in Thumaan

June 14, 2011 (BOR) – At least 6 people were reported dead, four children injured and one child abducted on Monday 13 June in a night attack on Thuman village in Mathiang buma [district] in the north of Jonglei states Bor County.

Malueth Bior, whose home was attacked, said he saw five gunmen after he was alerted by his eight guard dogs just after he had returned from seeing his cows a few metres from the residential area.

According to Bior, the attackers had initially found it hard to enter the compound but then shot six of his relatives at close range. Three of his cows were also shot dead in the 1am attack Malueth told Sudan Tribune at Bor civil hospital, where his four injured children – Keer Malueth, Ajah Malueth, Ayen Malueth, Bol Malueth aged 8 to 13 – are being treated.

Malueth strongly condemned the attack in which his six year old son Deng Malueth was abducted as he tried to escape. He and his neighbors had no guns to defend his family and children from the attackers.

“I was hopeless because I had no gun”, he said.

AJah Malueth, a girl of 13 with a serious gunshot wound to her abdomen was rushed to the theatre room for an hour-long operation in which a Gem3 bullet was removed from her body. Doctors at Bor civil hospital said her condition could not be ascertained.

Bor County Police Commissioner, Colonel Mabior Ruar who visited the area also confirmed the casualties and said he had buried the dead in two mass graves each grave with three bodies. He condemned the attack as “an act of ruthless thieves” who lacked humanity.

He said lack of arms, ammunition and man power were the major challenges facing him in his attempt to protect civilians in the vast county of Bor.

According to Col. Mabior, there the 200 police in the county who have to share their weapons depending on who is on duty. He also cited poor communication networks, lack of mobility and bad roads as some of the challenges the police face when trying to reach the scene of incidents in time.

Mabior also presented an AK 47 and Gem-3 cartridges fired by the attackers in and around the homes as an evident of the arms they were using when they assaulted the village.

Bor North member of parliament, Mr. Kuol Bol Ayom, commonly known as Adurhok Noh, told Sudan Tribune from Juba that he strongly condemned the violence in his constituency and called upon the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) to intervene in Jonglei.

He said the “vulnerable people of Bor” needed to be given credible security after they were disarmed, saying the insecurity situation in Jonglei is beyond the state’s control.

“What is happening there in Jonglei is out of control of Jonglei government. I appeal to GoSS to protect civilians of Bor”, Bol said.

He said that disarmament campaigns should be carried in all Jonglei’s counties, particularly Pibor County, home of the Murle tribe who are frequently blamed for raids and child abductions.

Bol expressed his agony over the arms given to young Murle members of the South Sudan army (SPLA) to fight renegades David Yau Yau and George Athor Deng, saying the guns were now being used by Murle youth to kill people in Bor.

Bol accused politicians and MPs who represent the Murle to have interfered in last year’s disarmament campaign in Pibor County. Their request to be given time to collect and surrender all unauthorized and illegal arms in the hands of civilians to SPLA never materialized, he said.

The Bor North MP said that the complete disarmament in three counties of Bor, Twic East and Duk has left them vulnerable to their enemies.

“Why does the government disarm some communities and left some?”, he asked. “Why does the government turn deaf ears to the people of Bor?”

Bol said the enemies of Bor County wanted them to retaliate but his people were instead concerned with South Sudan’s independence on July 9.

“Our people are concerned with national issues and always tried to ignore tribal conflicts. That is why they don’t retaliate”, Bol said.

Small weapons remain common in South Sudan despite as 2005 peace deal that granted the South the right to seceded. Insecurity through rebel movements and criminal gangs is one the main problems effecting South Sudan as it approaches statehood in less than a month.

(ST)