E. Equatoria farmers accuse Ugandan troops of invading their territory over land dispute
August 4, 2015 (TORIT) – Authorities in Magwi county of Eastern Equatoria state said there was gunfire after the Ugandan army (UPDF) forces encroached on South Sudan’s border territory of Pajok payam, chasing away South Sudanese citizens in Pogee area.
The head chief of South Sudan’s Pajok payam, Okello Vincent and Magwi county commissioner, Ben Kingstone, said over the weekend that youth from Pajok payam said UPDF had entered three kilometres into South Sudan, shooting at people and claiming that the land belonged to Uganda.
Commissioner Kingstone said hundreds of people were displaced due to the random shooting by Ugandan forces. He also told Sudan Tribune that he was in Torit to report the incident to the state government, who in turn would report the invasion to the national government in Juba.
The commissioner urged the South Sudanese government to act fast and not allow the neighbouring Uganda to annex the border land.
He further said the Luo youth in Pajok payam were already in a standby awaiting only for order to splash out the UPDF from the South Sudan’s territory.
UPDF, he said, had deployed at Ngom Oromo border point and Pogee village as they were claiming in Lokung sub-county in Lamwo district to repulse an invasion by South Sudanese nationals.
On the other hand, the chairperson of the Ugandan district of Lamwo, Mathew Ochen Akiya, said South Sudanese led by Martin Vincent Okello, the head chief of Pajok payam, started entering the area on Friday claiming it was part of their territory.
Akiya said the invasion was an escalation of a border dispute that started in 2012. In April 2015, South Sudanese cattle rustlers attacked Lamwo and stole livestock.
He is quoted by local media as saying that between January and March this year, the district had lost over 360 cows and 390 goats according to records they have collected from within the community.
The Ugandan local official added that the South Sudanese were instead encroaching on their land, and cultivating without their consent. The district chairman demanded that their cattle and goats be compensated with profits as the central government had taken in their concern.
He said Ugandan minister of land, housing and urban development, David Migereko reported that government was in talks with Eastern Equatoria state’s government under the deputy governor, Jerome Gama Surur, to address the matter.
Clashes between Ugandans and South Sudanese on the border have been reported in the past but currently it has taken a new twist. The Ugandan army had asked what they said were South Sudanese invaders to vacate the country’s soil with immediate effect.
(ST)