At least five Blue Nile refugees currently living in Yusuf Batil camp in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State were wounded and eight houses torched when clashes erupted between the refugees and the host community in Kango village.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Sunday, Maban County Commissioner James Basha stated that an armed group of Ingessana refugees from Yusuf Batil camp attacked Kango village, which resulted in deadly clashes.

“In that unfortunate incident about five people were wounded. The assailants who were in military attire burned eight houses to ashes and destroyed property of the local citizens in Kango village,” he said.

“The cause of the problem was something very trivial,” he explained. “I hear that the problem was initially instigated by two persons who quarrelled at a water source besides exchanging accusations of stealing in the past.”

In other development, a person was killed in Jendrassa camp by an unknown group on Sunday. Local authorities have been unable to trace the perpetrators.

A sheikh in the camp who preferred anonymity told Radio Tamazuj that a 37 year-old was chopped in the head with an axe by unidentified criminals.

“After committing their heinous crime they robbed all cattle of the victim,” explained the elder. He also pointed out that on 22 February another refugee was found shot dead by unknown gunmen.

The refugees in Jendrassa camp called on the government and the United Nations to protect them and ban the host community from entering the refugee camps with guns.

File photo: Refugee children in Maban County, 2012 (Radio Tamazuj)