About 300 bodies in Bor are awaiting burial, including some that have already been collected and placed in a mass grave at the town burial ground.
Local authorities said they collected more than 1,000 bodies already, and previously claimed the number in the town was more than twice that.
Radio Tamazuj was able to verify on the weekend moving across the whole town not more than 300 bodies.
Authorities in the Jonglei capital say they are working with the UN to show that a massacre was carried out in the town by loyalists of Riek Machar Teny.
They have so far delayed burials in order to first show the bodies. Red Cross are not taking part in the daily activity of bodies collection.
Church mass graves
Two mass graves have been dug in front of the Episcopal Church for 22 people who were massacred in this church compound. 20 of them were women including elders and five pastors, and two were men.
Dean of Cathedral of Bor Diocese, Thomas Agau Kur, told Radio Tamazuj on Saturday that some of the church victims were knifed and others shot. He accused the ‘white army,’ armed civilians from northern Jonglei.
Unburied
A maximum of 165 bodies are lying in two mass graves in Block Ten at Langbaar. They are lying in the open waiting to be covered.
Also at the airport, Radio Tamazuj counted 30 bodies uncollected by the authorities for unclear reasons. The bodies were not yet identified, a source noted.
In Marol market, one of the biggest markets in Jonglei State, between 10 and 15 dead bodies are laying randomly in the market for unknown reasons.
Other bodies are still in the houses, including some who died without obvious indications of violence. Such elderly victims may have been left behind and died of sickness or hunger.
Commissioner urges calm
Bor County Commissioner Dr. Agoot Alier urged the populations from different tribes in the bush and also in UNMISS camp to be calm and not to allow themselves to be used by politicians to achieve their interests.
In an interview with Radio Tamazuj he noted also that authorities were not ready to declare a final tally of the number of dead bodies found in Bor since the recapture of the town by the army and allied Ugandan forces last month.
“I’m sure we collected until now more than 1,000 – that’s the number that together up until yesterday evening (10 Feb.) we collected,” said Agoot.
The commissioner added, “We are working with UNMISS department of human rights to see the massacre carried out by Dr.Riek Machar in Bor. And this was done also in Twic by the same person.”
Photo: A mass grave in Bor, Jonglei, 10 February 2014 (Radio Tamazuj)