Four students of Nimule Model Secondary School in South Sudan's Eastern Equatoria State have been arrested following a fight that erupted on Tuesday and intensified on Wednesday.
According to sources on the ground, the fight believed to be between students from Bor and Barh el Ghazal was caused by a misunderstanding.
Following the scuffle, authorities ordered the immediate closure of the learning institution until investigations are conducted and culprits held accountable.
"We sent a force to go and disperse them off. This was no longer fight; it was a different level because these people were more than 170. We went there with border police to disperse them off and when they were dispersed, some of them were injured like four or three. One is in custody and the other three are receiving treatment, they cannot be in custody before treatment,” said Maj. David Kasimiro, the Police Inspector at Nimule town council.
Maj. Kasimiro says they are yet to establish the cause of the fight. “We have not done our investigations but we have started. The rest ran away, they dispersed and entered into the areas, they entered their areas and homes. They started from inside and escalated outside the school premises."
Nimule Payam Education Director Akeri Angelina admitted that she was ordered to close the school as investigations into the incident are conducted.
“I am going to get investigations done. The commissioner has given me orders that I should make sure that the teachers be interviewed, the learners themselves be interviewed then after that we call for a meeting. But according to what I have heard, it is Dinka Bor and Bahr-el Ghazal, yes that is what I have heard," Angelina said.
Radio Tamazuj could not immediately reach teachers, students, and the school administration for comments.