Lakes state official gunned down at Rumbek market

November 5, 2014 (RUMBEK) – Lakes state government official Sabit Kuluel was killed at Rumbek Central county’s Malith market on Tuesday in an apparent assassination.

Kuluel served as a former officer manager for the commissioner of Rumbek Central county before being transferred to the ministry of physical infrastructure as the senior officer for Land and Survey.

Kuluel also worked as a tax collector at the Rumbek auction.

According to eyewitness accounts, Kuluel was killed by an armed man dressed in a police uniform while assuming his evening duties at the Malith auction on Tuesday evening.

“It was earlier at sunset when a man carrying [an] AK47 appeared inside Malith market. The man was dressed in [the] auxiliary police uniform and he just target Sabit Kuluel among hundreds of people,” one witness said, adding that Kuluel was hit in the head and shoulder.

Lakes state’s criminal investigation department (CID) has confirmed the incident.

However, state authorities have yet to arrest any suspects in connection to the killing.

A senior CID officer described the shooting as an “unbelievable incident”.

“We did not get to know who killed Sabit [Kuluel] and yet all units are searching to establish to know who killed Sabit,” the officer said.

Police and local communities have been at loggerheads in recent months, amid claims of ongoing civil disobedience towards state law enforcement agents.

Youth activists and traditional authorities have repeatedly called for military caretaker governor Maj-Gen Matur Chut Dhuol’s removal, saying he has failed to stem endemic violence in the region.

However, president Salva Kiir has so far overlooked the demands.

Dhuol was appointed by Kiir in January 2013, replacing elected governor Chol Tong Mayay

(ST)