The local authorities in Yei River County’s Tore Payam in Central Equatoria State have raised concerns over the burning down of the house of a local chief and the destruction of farms by cattle herders and asked them to vacate the area.
Azaria Khemis Noah, the Tore Payam Administrator, told Radio Tamazuj Tuesday that pastoralists from Jonglei State and the Bahr el Ghazal Region arrived in the area last month and their cattle have since destroyed a lot of gardens. He said the recent incident which sparked uproar was the burning of a local chief’s house.
“The cattle keepers came and settled in Tore on 15 January in large numbers and what I have seen is that they have destroyed farms of the local community. Also, they set fire to the house of a sub-chief called Mar Mundu. The properties burned include blankets, bed sheets, mattresses, and SSP 30,000.
According to the local administrator, after the arson, the local community met with the pastoralists and demanded that the latter pay SSP 100,000 to cover the losses caused by the fire and leave the area. He said the presence of the pastoralists has destabilized the community and caused insecurity.
Dousman John, a community leader in Tore, also demanded the immediate departure of the herders and their cattle, saying the people of Central Equatoria State are farmers and it is difficult for them to coexist with cattle.
“We in Central and Western Equatoria are agriculturalists so we do not want any cattle keepers to stay in our territory because we use the land to produce food,” he said. Their presence will also discourage refugees who are in the Democratic Republic of Congo from returning home.”
Meanwhile, Isaac Aloro, a lawmaker representing Tore Payam in the Central Equatoria State Legislative Assembly, called on the government of Jonglei to address the issue of their cattle herders. He noted that for the past two years, the people of Central Equatoria have witnessed several atrocities committed by the herders.
“The people of Central Equatoria state are peace-loving, friendly, and harmonious in nature and I therefore call on the sisterly Jonglei State government to rein in their people (herders)” he said. “My prayer this that our state government swiftly intervene.”
Last year, cattle herders killed over 20 people in Central Equatoria State’s Kajo Keji County prompting the governors of Jonglei and Central Equatoria states to reach an agreement for the herders to return to their places of origin.