Gunmen from communities and militia on both sides of the Warrap-Unity boundary in South Sudan have carried out multiple attacks on villages and cattle camps in the last week, resulting in numerous civilian casualties including women, children and elderly.
Raiding for cattle across the inter-state boundary is not new, but the latest attacks are unusual for their brutality and for the rapidity with which one attack has followed the other.
Tensions have been particularly high across the boundary, which is also an inter-ethnic divide between the Dinka of Warrap and the Nuer of Unity, since fighting among national army units broke out in the capital Juba and in Unity state last December.
County authorities in Mayom say that at least 11 civilians including six children were killed and 10 others wounded in an attack on 2 April.
Mayom County Commissioner John Bol Mayak stated the raid took place at 2:00 p.m at Biek payam in Mayom County. He confirmed that 11 people mostly elderly were killed and six children killed as well whereas 10 others wounded.
The commissioner accused Dinka youths from Twic County of the attack: “the attackers wore military attire and were heavily armedd – you see, after they ran away during the clashes with the locals we found about 2 PKM and 2 RPG machine guns,” he explained.
The assailants were unable to take cattle, and at least 25 from their side were killed on the spot by local youth fighters during the fighting, he said.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, the commissioner also admitted that Nuer criminals from Mayom County had crossed the border and attacked Toch area in Twic County in Warrap State on 30 March.
Referring to this earlier reported incident, Bol noted, “The Commissioner Biar Biar told me that the criminals killed 14 women and one girl and two soldiers were killed by the criminals.”
“I know most of the cattle raiders in my County among them the notorious criminals called Mawiyor and Malei,” says the commissioner.
“I have already identified them but because they are armed, I think the matter would need to be done slowly,” he explained.
Bol noted the criminals are now in rebel hideouts, a matter which makes it difficult for the government to apprehend them easily.
In a related development, the official said a separate assault was carried out on Gol payam in his county on 15 March resulting in the killing of two women and three men.
The commissioner this time accused youths from Gogrial East County of involvement in the incident.
“All the incidents I mentioned were caused by criminals, so they just want to mix up the authorities, therefore I do not want to accuse any commissioner in Warrap State,” he noted.
Another attack in Twic County
For his part, the Twic County Commissioner Biar Biar denied any knowledge of the latest attack, instead accused youths from Mayom County of carrying out a fresh attack at a cattle camp in Akuac on Monday morning.
In his remarks to Radio Tamazuj on Monday following the incident, Biar Biar said the criminals managed to take 15 cattle, saying that none of the locals was killed.
He accused militia under the command of Mathew Pul Jang of protecting the cattle thieves along the Warrap-Unity border.
“Owners of the cattle taken in the latest incident recently ran after the looted cattle in an attempt to recover them but when they reached where the militia is stationed they clashed with them instead of the cattle thieves,” he said.
Pul Jang, the commander mentioned by the commissioner, fought alsongside the government in battles for control of Bentiu, but his forces are yet to be formally absorbed into the SPLA.
Denial of fresh attack
Meanwhile the Mayom County Commissioner denied the alleged fresh attack on Twic County: “I am not responsible for the criminals, and have no idea about the cattle theft there by youths from Mayom,” he explained.
The only solution to the issue is to secure the border jointly from the cattle raiders, according to official.
He called on the national government to take security measures so as to control the issue of cattle rustling across the country.
File photo: Houses burnt during a cattle raid in a village in Jonglei, South Sudan, 12 July 2013 (AFP/Hannah McNeish)
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