Northern Bahr el Ghazal State Governor Simon Uber Mawut on Thursday ordered a special committee to continue investigating the pillaging of items belonging to the HealthNet TPO organization in Aweil West County’s Nyamlel town.
The local authorities in the county confirmed that some of the looted items include computers, tables, chairs, cupboards, and printers among other valuable assets, and said that nothing has been recovered so far.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Thursday, Aweil West County Commissioner Garang Peter Maduok disclosed that Governor Mawut instructed the investigative committee to continue its work and submit its findings to his office immediately.
“The governor inspected the compound yesterday (Wednesday), assessed the progress of the committee, and instructed them to continue the investigations and the final report on the looted items and suspects behind the incident will be submitted to the governor for a final decision,” he said. “The incident happened on 1 August and even though there was no suspect arrested in connection with the crime, we are carrying out a manhunt for those involved in the robbery.”
According to the Chairperson of the Northern Bahr el Ghazal State Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC), Lual Awach, the robbery occurred when the staff of the health charity were to a new accommodation facility. Their old premises were to remain solely as offices.
“What happened was that the employees of HealthNet TPO were relocating from the compound to new accommodations and the old compound was to be maintained as an office because their donor, UNICEF, decided that,” he explained. “The locals mobilized themselves and stormed the compound with claims that the organization was pulling out of the area. The organization had informed the government, especially the police, about the incident, and the police deployed four armed personnel to guard the facility.”
He added: “The police fired bullets in the air to deter the angry mob but they overwhelmed them, looted everything, and destroyed the compound in the middle of the night.”