John Achuan, Minister of Information in South Sudan’s Boma State, has accused elements within the SPLA army from neighboring Jonglei State of attacking villages in Kotchar County, displacing civilians and raiding hundreds of cattle.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, Minister Achuang said the attack which started on Saturday, continued until Tuesday afternoon. He further said many people have been displaced including women and children.
“An armed group from Jonglei state attacked Kotchar on Saturday. They were around 10,000. They were accompanied by five Land Cruisers and one water tanker. Those vehicles were loaded with heavy arms like PKM among others,” he said.
For his part, Jonglei state officials confirmed the attack. But denied any involvement of organized forces in the attack.
Jonglei’s minister of information Jacob Akech claimed that the attack was in response to an earlier attack by cattle raiders from Boma.
“Those youth cannot listen to the government. Since December last year, we have been telling them not to carry out any attack. We promised them as government of Jonglei that we will return those cattle, we will go and talk to them. We have the law in the county and we should respect that. But they did not listen to us,” he said.
Jacob further said Jonglei state government condemns such attacks, but called on the two neighboring governments to meet and resolve these issues.
Meanwhile, SPLA spokesperson Lul Ruai Kuong denied any reports of an attack on civilians in either Jonglei or Boma states.
Photo: Citizens displaced by fighting in Juba in July, 2016/Radio Tamazuj