A senior official in Warrap State’s Twic County has confirmed that armed youth suspected to be from Abyei raided over 400 goats and sheep and burnt down homes in Anyiel Kuac village in the county’s Turalei Payam.
Twic County Commissioner Simon Aguek Chan told Radio Tamazuj Friday that suspected Tit baai, the armed youth from Abyei, backed by others from Abyei Mission and armed Nuer youth from Unity State’s Mayom County attacked the village at 1 a.m. on Friday and raided livestock, burnt the whole village to ashes and displaced the residents to the bushes. He said there was no report on causalities.
“Armed youth from Abyei backed by Nuer gunmen from Mayom County attacked Anyiel Kuac Boma which is in Turalei Payam. The two groups formed a huge number,” he said. “They burnt all the houses there and took away almost 500 sheep and goats. It happened at 1 a.m. on Friday and all the residents ran into the bushes at night on 19 January.”
“All the people ran to the bushes and no person has been reported killed but security forces are searching for locals in the bushes and calling them to come out,” Commissioner Aguek added.
He said it was a three-pronged attack and he telephoned and informed the SSPDF commander at the Aneet Military Base about the incident.
Aguek described the security situation as precarious and said civilians were still in the bushes and that the area has no telephone communication network, making it difficult to get accurate information.
For his part, Bulis Koch, the information minister in Abyei Administrative Area, denied that the attackers were from Abyei.
“There is a problem at the border and yesterday (Thursday) we lost 140 goats from Mijak County which were raided by armed youth suspected to be from Mayom County in Unity State and Biemnhom County in Ruweng Administrative Area because their footprints were followed towards the Mayom and Biemnhom borders,” he stated. “Nobody knows who these criminals are but the armed Nuers of Gai Machiek who live in Ajak Kuac Payam in Warrap State’s Twic County and other Nuers youths who enter Amiet through Kalmanyang village are confusing. They sometimes steal goats and sheep of the Messiriya and we are blamed instead.”
Koch added: “I was not informed by the army commander there about youth activities.”
After being told that armed youth from Abyei were blamed for the attack, the minister vehemently denied it and said, “This is totally wrong because we the people of Abyei love peace.”
“The president’s resolutions were released on Wednesday in Juba and there is no need for attacks and tomorrow (Saturday) there will be a rally in Abyei where the chief administrator will brief the public about resolutions reached during the four-day meeting,” Minister Koch said. “These resolutions must be respected.”