Jonglei and Boma states engulfed by deadly raids

Jonglei and Boma states have been engulfed by a wave of deadly raids by rival communities. In the latest incidences one person was killed, others were abducted and over 1,000 cattle were stolen, according to officials. 

Jonglei and Boma states have been engulfed by a wave of deadly raids by rival communities. In the latest incidences one person was killed, others were abducted and over 1,000 cattle were stolen, according to officials. 

On Sunday, March 26, attackers suspected to be from the neighbouring Boma State have abducted four children and killed one person from an island in Jonglei State’s Maar Payam, Twic South Commissioner, Deng Manyok told Radio Tamazuj.

“Yesterday (Sunday) evening at 4:00 PM, we got the information that the criminals from Murle side attacked a place called Pachokok,” Manyok said, adding: “We don’t know where they are.”

In a separate incidence, on March 23, youth believed to be from Boma State attacked Jamyong and Payar cattle camps, said the Commissioner of Twic North, Deng Mabeny Kuot, adding that “about 1,300 cattle were raided and no casualties reported”.

Kuot said the attackers left with the cattle toward Likwonglei in Boma State. “And on the 24th, there was an attempt on Payar cattle camp but the cattle were rescued and no casualties,” he added.

However, Nyany Korok, the head of the Youth Union in Boma State, said they did not receive any information about the raids in Jonglei State, adding that the claims are “not true”. She said they received information “that youths from Jonglei State are in the border between Boma and Jonglei coming to attack us”.

Last week Boma State Minister of Information, John Achuan, warned of possible fresh communal clashes between youth in the two states, a continuation of an attack and revenge cycle.

Already on Sunday, March 5, gunmen believed to belong to the Bor Dinka from eastern Jonglei State, attacked Coschar in neighbouring Boma State. Achuan said no fewer than 55 people were killed and thousands of cattle stolen.

Cattle raids are nothing new in South Sudan. Dinka, Murle and Nuer have long raided each other’s cattle, or battled over access to grazing land and water but the conflicts have turned increasingly deadly.

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General, David Shearer, pledged to support efforts aimed at building peace in the greater Jonglei area and to bring an end to the ongoing cattle raids, child abductions and killings.

On Thursday, May 9, Shearer held meetings with government officials, traditional leaders and United Nations officials in Jonglei State’s capital Bor. The following day he met with officials in Boma State’s capital Pibor.

“We were talking in particular with the paramount chiefs of the area about the issue of cattle rustling and child abduction and we offered all we can to build peace between communities,” Shearer said after the meeting.

Last week, representatives from the two states were due to hold a peace conference in Terekeka, but it was postponed for unclear reasons.  

The recent incidences show, that efforts to end the deadly raids have not yielded any results so far – and the governors from both states need to find ways to implement a communal peace deal reached in December 2016.

Photo: A young boy herding cattle in South Sudan. (Radio Tamazuj)