Rumbek East county paramount chief killed by unknown gunman

August 8, 2014 (RUMBEK) – The paramount chief of Lakes state’s Rumbek East county, Apareer Chut Dhuol, was gunned down by an unknown assailant on Tuesday.

The attack occurred in Pacong payam (district), about 20km from Rumbek Central county.

According to the police service’s criminal investigation department (CID), the shooting is in retaliation for the death of late paramount chief Maker Mabor, who was killed in 2002.

Lakes state’s minister of local government and law enforcement, Jok Ayom Majak, called for calm on Thursday as Dhuol, who is the elder brother of Lake’s state’s military caretaker governor, Matur Chuol Dhuol, was buried.

Majak vowed that those responsible would be held accountable, while urging Dhuol’s supporters not to take the law into their own hands.

Rumbek East has been the scene of tensions between the Athoi clan, of which Dhuol hails, and Mabor’s Gony clan.

The latest incident has raised fears of further violence among the two clans.

However, Majak maintained that the situation is under control, saying that army and police forces were deployed in flashpoint areas in a bid to prevent further revenge killings.

Local police say state authorities have become increasingly isolated, with the public refusing to share information with law enforcement officers, making in difficult to investigate killings and maintain law and order in the region.

There are growing calls for South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir Mayardit to relieve the caretaker governor, however, those calls have so far been overlooked.

(ST)