A community chief of Gadiang village in Jonglei State’s Duk County who was shot and critically injured while in the company of his subjects while collecting grass for thatching on 29 December has succumbed to his injuries, officials said.
Duk County Commissioner Peter Latjor Chuol Radio Tamazuj that Chief Machir Lul Bayak succumbed to wounds on his thigh while arrangements were being made to have him evacuated for further medical attention.
“The chief who was shot and injured on his thigh has unfortunately died on New Year’s Eve at 3 a.m. after a plane was prepared to evacuate him at daybreak,” he revealed. “He has been laid to rest.”
A lawmaker representing Duk County in the national legislative assembly, Philip Thon Leek, said the fatal attack on the chief amplifies the already precarious security situation in the county.
“Meetings will not stop these repeated attacks. Even after the Murle youth mobilization was stopped by their authorities, they are all over Jonglei killing and raiding cattle,” he said. “Looking at these atrocities being left without intervention and even if conferences are called, then inter-communal violence will not stop because criminals should be met with force.”
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