At least two people were killed in clashes over land grabbing allegations involving people from the Atuot community and the host Rejaf community in Juba’s Gumbo residence on Saturday.
Several people living in the Don Bosco area of Gumbo had sleepless nights in fear of a possible recurrence of the incident over the weekend.
The government says it has deployed the police to create a buffer zone between the two communities on Saturday.
A senior police officer who works at Gumbo Police Station who requested anonymity says they have recorded two separate incidents of killing since Wednesday last week.
“We have two incidents in different locations. One was on date 13th of December which occurred in the Mangalla area in which three people died; two men and one woman. And the other incident on Saturday is around Don Bosco Secondary School which led to the death of two people. The whole situation was caused by land grabbers and they are responsible for all that happened,” the officer explained.
The officer further said 10 people have already been arrested in connection to the Saturday incident.
“All the suspects are with us in custody now and we will send them to the Central Equatoria Police headquarters. We had arrested three suspects in the first incident but they were found innocent. But for this second incident on Saturday, we have arrested 10 and the investigation is still ongoing,” the officer stated.
Another police officer working at the Gumbo Police station who went to the scene on Saturday and who requested anonymity explained the Saturday incident.
“The incident on Saturday involved the Atuot community members and the host community from Rajaf. The Atuot community came armed, forcing the Bari community living behind the Don Bosco compound to vacate their places for them. Then they killed one person from the host community by beating him to death,” he narrated. “In revenge, the host community also killed one person from them by beating.
The police officer said they went to the scene and collected two bodies.
For his part, South Sudan Police Spokesperson Daniel Justin said on Monday that they have arrested some of the land grabbers.
“We are going for a meeting now regarding the incident that happened in Gumbo on Saturday. I need to have accurate information because people are saying the issue is between the communities, and others are saying it is the army that is renting there that is involved in land grabbing. So, we are waiting for the commissioner there to come and brief us today,” he said.
Last Wednesday, three people died in a gunfire exchange between illegal settlers along the Juba-Bor road and the military officers who were protecting the demolition team from Central Equatoria State on Wednesday (Dec 13th) in the Mangalla area adjacent to Gumbo residence.