Armed cattle keepers, who recently crossed into South Sudan’s Yei River state from Jonglei, remain a threat to the implementation of the revitalized peace deal as well return of people who had previously fled the country, a local official said Thursday.
In an interview with Radio Tamazuj, the Nyepo county commissioner, Julius Lokonga said the armed pastoralists from about five to six cattle camps in Rodo payam, were looting, harassing and torturing villagers.
Some civilians deep in villages, he said, have also been displaced.
“The implementation of the revitalized peace agreement is not moving on well in the area because I have received reports from my people in villages that there are five to six cattle camps who crossed from the side of Kaya village [and] are roaming and threatening the civil population at gunpoint in the area,” said Lokonga.
He added, “They are well armed and uprooting cassava from people’s farms. Some of the returnees willing to come to settle in their areas are now scared”.
Lokonga said he presented a report to the state governor, through the Local Government and Law Enforcement Minister, so the national government and Jonglei state authorities can address the matter.
The commissioner, however, warned of another outbreak of conflict between cattle keepers and farmers in the area, if nothing was done.
Lokonga said the security situation in his county was generally stable, despite the deteriorating humanitarian situations. He said since the outbreak of the conflict in July 2016, thousands of people trapped deep in villages are without humanitarian assistance.
Last week, commissioner said, over 400 returnees, mostly women, children and the elderly arrived to the county, but still lack support.
According to the official, several humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), conducted assessments in the area from the start of the year, but no assistance has been delivered to those suffering.
“There high need for humanitarian assistance for the IDPs [Internally Displaced Persons] and the returnees who are coming home. Recently humanitarian organizations headed by UNOCHA visited the area but none of them responded to help the people here,” stressed Lokonga.
“The people here need food and nonfood items and as I speak now, I have a population of 450 civilians, mostly women and the elderly who recently came to the county headquarters [but] had nothing to start their livelihoods”, he added.
Since the outbreak of the conflict in 2016, many people in the greater Kajo-Keji county of Yei River state were killed while thousands displaced from villages and forced to flee into neighboring Uganda.