Murle should be disarmed first in Jonglei – Lou Nuer in Unity State
By Bonifacio Taban Kuich
March 12, 2012 (BENTIU) – The chairman of the Lou Nuer community in Unity State, Tut Makuei Reth, said the Murle ethnic group should be disarmed before other tribes in Jonglei state, as a disarmament campaign kicked off on Sunday.
Reth told Sudan Tribune that disarmament was necessary but claimed that previous campaigns had been unfair and left the Luo Nuer at a disadvantage. The South Sudanese government has made numerous attempts to take weapons from civilian populations in Jonglei but cattle raiding and conflict remain common.
The commissioner of Akobo County in Jonglei State claimed on Saturday that between 500 and 800 people were missing, some of them feared dead, following an attack on Friday by armed Murle tribesmen.
Murle youth have been accused of a series of cattle raids since January and December when 6,000 Luo Nuer attacked Pibor County the home of the Murle. In 2011 over 1,000 people died in raids and counter raids between the two groups.
Reth accused the government of allowing the Murle youth to attack the Luo Nuer in Akobo, where officials said that South Sudan’s army (SPLA) did not attempt to intervene in the recent fighting.
He claimed that previous disarmament campaign in 2006 was not fair and did not meet international standards. After the process, he said that, the SPLA did not protect the Lou Nuer and Dinka from further Murle cattle raids.
“No compensation was given to the victims whose villages were burnt. Some youths surrendered their guns but nothing has been done”, said Reth.
Reth added that he hopes this time the Jonglei Governor, Kuol Manyang Juuk, will not repeat the mistakes of his predecessor Brig. Gen. Philip Thon Leek. Juuk and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir launched the initiative on Monday, aiming to disarm all groups across the state simultaneously.
However, Rech argues that disarmament of the Murle should happen first as their young men do not spend much time in Pibor but in other areas of Jonglei “looking for cows and children from Nuer and Dinka”.
Abductions of women and children are common between the two communities. It is often alleged that infertility causes the Murle to steal children of neighbouring tribes in order to survive, but there is no independent evidence of this.
“Murle are the citizens of Jonglei as well as South Sudanese, they have the same rights as others let the government give them protection, but they have to listen to the government, they have to stop taking others children, cattle and they can also think on how they can stay in their homes like any others citizens in Jonglei or in South as a whole,” Reth said.
He asked citizens to co-operate and put faith in the government but asked the SPLA to remember that the civilians they are disarming are the people they fought for during the civil war which led to South Sudan’s independence.
He urged the Nuer White Army, the vigilante group, who claimed responsibility for the huge assault on Pibor over Christmas and New Year, to handover their weapons adding that this was a better way to protect the country.
South Sudan’s main focus, he said, should be on the contested border area with north Sudan and the disputed territory of Abyei, rather than internal feuding.
(ST)