Authorities in Kapoeta North County of South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria State on Tuesday arrested three people who have been identified as having participated in recent cattle raids in the Lopit areas of Lafon County.
More than 50 cattle were stolen in the Ibahure and Lobuhanga Longiro villages of Lafon County late last year.
Kapoeta North County Commissioner Emmanuel Ephone Lolimo told Radio Tamazuj that five cows and 20 goats had been recovered from the suspects.
“So far we have arrested three people and they have recovered the raided goats and cows, as we speak about 23 goats have been recovered and five cows,” Ephone said. “We are just arresting people whose names have been identified and they said I have three, I have five so they are returning what they have so we have already recovered them.”
Commissioner Ephone noted that 15 other suspects remain at large but according to authorities are still at large
“We still have a lot of them on our list and we are arresting them individually so that we recover all these livestock. We still have 15 of them to be arrested,” he added.
Ephone urged the people of Kapoeta North and Lafon counties to respect the recent peace talks between the Lopit and Toposa for durable peace in the region and reiterated his administration’s commitment to dealing with crimes.
For his part, the commissioner of Lafon County Magisto Ukach Agweri applauded his counterpart for apprehending the suspects and called on cattle owners to protect their livestock from raids.
“We encourage our communities to live in peace with one another,” he advised. “And even the cattle owners let them make sure they protect their animals because it would take us a long time to rescue stolen animals. They should also be in touch with the local authorities so that the information is shared promptly.”