The local authorities in Budi County in South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria State have said they are investigating Monday’s ambush of a humanitarian vehicle along the Camp 15-Chukudum road on Monday.

Suspected bandits randomly shot at a vehicle belonging to the Catholic Relief Service (CRS) in Ngarere village and injured the driver only identified as Lolis.

The Eastern Equatoria State authorities have long declared Ngarere village a hot spot for road ambushes, robberies, and killings.

Alfred Odong, the executive director in Budi County said a joint team comprising security personnel and youth has been sent to investigate the matter.

“The car belongs to CRS and had gone Kimotong Payam in the morning (Monday) but when it was returning they had this accident in Ngarere, the usual place that disturbs us,” he said. “Most of the criminals hijack cars there. The person who got shot and wounded is the driver called Lolis. No one has been arrested but authorities in Chukudum ask some people to track the footmarks of the criminals.”

Meanwhile, the Police inspector in Budi County, Philip Odong, revealed that the local communities in and around Ngarere village were not cooperating with the investigation team on the ground and have refused to volunteer any information.

“We are waiting to get information on the whereabouts of the culprits but nobody has brought a proper report,” he said. “We are still following up with the chiefs and they are supposed to identify the people who shot at the vehicle. When you ask these people questions, all of them say they do not know.”

On his part, Peter Lokeng Lotone, the Eastern Equatoria State minister of local government and law enforcement, condemned the ambushing of humanitarian vehicles.

“As a government, we condemn the incident which happened. We now know Ngarera has become a hot spot for killing people and robbing of humanitarian partners which is not good,” he said. “We are going to work hard to deploy the police in Ngarera to stop the ambushes, killing, and robbing of people along that road.”

“We are still following up with the national government because the forces were graduated and we need our share for deployment,” Minister Lokeng added.