Jonglei: Over 360 cattle raided from Bor County
September 24, 2012 (BOR) – Pamuom cattle camp in Alian village of Jale Payam in Jonglei State’s Bor County was raided on Sunday by unknown gunmen, suspected to be from Murle ethnic tribe, according the the local MP for the area, Kuol Bol Ayom.
Bol accused the youth of Murle ethnic tribes to have stolen 364 cattle from his village cattle camp at the time of peace. The raid occurred between 5pm and 6pm, with the footprints and cattle herding the direction of Pibor County, the home of the Murle, he said.
The local MP called on the government to look to trace and arrest the thieves in Pibor to bring back the stolen cattle. Cattle raiding and related violence killed 1,000 people in 2011 and state-wide disarmament campaign launched this year after nearly 900 people were killed in violence over December and January.
Over 140,000 people as they were forced to flee their homes and/or need humanitarian assistance.
In December 2011 around 6,000-8,000 armed youth primarily from the Luo Nuer ethnic group were mobilized militarily to launched a series of systematic attacks on the Murle tribe of Pibor County over a 12 day period crossing into January 2012.
OVER 4OO CATTLE GIVEN TO MURLE CATTLE IN COMPENSATION
In August, four members of the Dinka Bor tribe from Bor County were arrested in Bor under suspicion of taking part in a cattle raid on Pibor County’s Koth Char village.
After military confrontation with the thieves, on their arrival to Anyidi Payam of Bor County, two members of the thieves were injured, the rest escaped but were later caught.
Murle leaders asked for 418 cows in compensation for the raid but this figure was dismissed by the people of Bor as “unconfirmed”. The raiders themselves told police they had taken between 50 and 100 cows
The state government pressurised the Bor community to collect 418 cattle in one month to be given to owner of the cattle in Pibor.
On Sunday, September 23, Jonglei state government handed over the cattle to their owner from Murle community in presence of the two commissioners of Bor and Pibor counties.
The MP, Kuol Bol Ayom said the they had accepted to collect cattle communally “because we are buying peace” between Pibor and Bor, adding that the number of cattle of cattle was exaggerated.
Some in Bor County are not happy that so many cattle have been handed over without any proper investigation from the court of appeal.
Bor Youth leader Philip Thon Ayuen said that there were doubts that just four thieves could steel over 400 cattle in one raid and escort them all the way to Bor and the government had not investigated properly.
The Chief Administrator of Anyidi Payam, Bona Majok, said there were some complicated figures reported regarding the stolen cattle and case was not forwarded to the court to find out the accurate figure of the stolen cattle.
“There were some many cases reported, the report we received in the Payam after the incident took place, the owner of the cattle reported to us the number of the stolen cattle from him to be approximately 300 cows, and in police investigation the figure was said to be 60, 85, 100, and some from Juba said the figure to be 400 cattle and the Juba figure was accepted,” he said.
(ST)