The community of Abiemnhom of the Ruweng Administrative Area on Saturday evening raised alarm over continued incidences of attacks in their area, accusing criminals from Mayom County of ethnic cleansing.
Addressing a press conference in Juba, Kuol Thon, the chairperson of the Abiemnhom Community in Juba, said the latest incident that happened in the area resulted in the death of 43 people and about 100 people unaccounted for. He said that now and then, they keep on losing people while the government watches in silence.
According to the community leader, the latest attack last week resulted in the displacement of 18,000 people, mostly women and children, to neighbouring areas, including Abyei, which is hosting about 5,000 IDPs, and the Ajakuac area of Twic County of Warrap State, where 13,000 people fled.
“This is not the first time we have lost so many souls. Almost every month, we lose between 3 to 5 people, and this is something that is continuing. It is not about the criminals who entered Abiemnhom, it is now above Abiemnhom,” he said. “We thought these were cattle thieves from Mayom who come and steal cattle and attack people, but this is no longer the issue of criminals, it is now a plot to wipe out the people of Abiemnhom. All the youth have fled Abiemnhom, and there are people, women, and children, whose bodies are still floating in the river.”
Thon called for humanitarian intervention for the displaced persons in Warrap State and Abyei Administrative Area.
For his part, Daniel James, the Abiemnhom Community Secretary General in Juba, accused criminals suspected to be from Mayom County of orchestrating ethnic cleansing of theAbiemnhom people.
“Now and then we are experiencing attacks, killings, robbery, which is not something new. About a year or so ago, we lost so many people, and we do not think this is an issue of cattle theft anymore,” he charged. “We think what the people of Mayom County want is to cleanse the people of Abiemnhom from existence.”
James accused the commissioner of Mayom County of being slow to respond to the incident despite being informed about it and of being slow to fulfill his promise of sending the army, which did not intervene on time.
Meanwhile, Daud Kuel, the youth representative of Abiemnhom Community, accused both the commissioner of Abiemnhom and Mayom counties of a lack of timely response to the latest incident that led to the death of 43 people.
“They did not take action at the right time because the government was supposed to come early in the month to resolve the issue, but we did not hear anything or action,” he stated. “So, we condemn them as well. The government of the Ruweng Administrative Area and the Government of Unity State are the big umbrellas, and if they had played a big role, the incident would not have happened.”