Lakes state authorities say at least four people were killed and five wounded during a cattle raid on Friday in Rumbek East County by youth allegedly from neighboring Unity State’s Panyijiar County.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Lakes State information minister William Koji Kerjok said, “Criminals came from Unity state, they came and carried out cattle raids in one of the cattle camps in Yirol East County called Nyigual-gut killing three people and four others were injured and they managed to take some cows. But the cows were recovered by the cattle owners.”
Koji said the relationship between the two governments and people is good although criminals continue to cause insecurity.
“This is just a criminal activity and it has to be treated as a criminal activity and that is what is supposed to happen,” he said. “The commissioner of Yirol East has managed to send some security forces to protect people and calm down the situation,” he said.
Minister Koji claimed that most of the youth in the state have been disarmed and have not been participating in cattle raids.
“I think the government of our neighboring state should work hard to make sure criminal activities are stopped and youth found doing criminal activities must be held accountable,” he added.
The Executive Chief of Cuei-cok Payam of Rumbek East County Gor Makuac said the armed raiders also made away with an unspecified number of cattle.
According to him, the raiders were heavily armed attacking the cattle camp in Nyigual-gut in the wee hours of Friday morning.
The coordinator for the civil society Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) Daniel Laat Kon called on Unity and Lakes states to establish a strong mechanism to address the issue of cattle raids.
However, responding to the allegations, Unity State’s caretaker information minister David Gai Jiejor said he was yet to get the details of the attack, saying there is no network coverage in Panyijar County.
“There is no network coverage to confirm the details of how many cattle were raided and how many people have been killed. I am still trying to find ways how to communicate with the commissioner of Panyijar and their local authorities,” he told Radio Tamazuj on Monday.
Unity State’s Director of CID Colonel Chiok Ruai confirmed that poor communication with Panyijiart county due to a lack of telephone network is a great challenge to security matters.