Charles Joseph Wani, the commissioner of Juba County in Central Equatoria State, during a visit to Lobonok over the weekend, asked cattle herders there to return to their areas of origin.
This comes after the killing of several people in the Lobonok area in the last couple of weeks. Lobonok is located about 30 kilometers south of the capital Juba on the east bank of the Nile.
“I was in Lobonok for the past four days and I returned to Juba today (Monday). I spoke with cattle keepers in the area that since the cattle are causing a lot of problems with local citizens, they should go back where they are coming from. Those from Bor should go back to Bor and those from Mundari of Terekaka should also leave so that our local civilians can engage in their farming activities and live peacefully,” Commissioner Wani told Radio Tamazuj.
Asked about the recent wanton killings in the Lobonok area, he said the first murders occurred two weeks ago and were blamed on cattle herders.
“Well, the recent incident happened two weeks ago. It was an attack on children who were at the riverside fishing. They were attacked by cattle keepers and two were killed. The second incident happened last Monday and two motorists were also killed at Nyambganga,” Commissioner Wani said. “They shot them and their goods were looted but the attackers could not take the motorbike. Up to this moment, the identity of the attackers of the second incident is not known.”
He said a suspect linked to the first murders had been identified and that a team had been sent to investigate who was behind the killing of the young men.
“The suspect of the first incident has been identified and is now in the military hospital in Juba and the police are monitoring him awaiting court procedures. The culprits of the second incident are not yet known but I have instructed all the security organs in the area to continue with the investigations,” Wani said.
Asked if it might be rebels killing people, Commissioner Wani said: “I can’t tell exactly if they are rebels or not until I receive the report of the investigation team, and then I will be in a position to clearly state this. So for now I cannot tell. Cattle keepers are moving around here and any incident that happens, they are most likely to be the first suspects.”
He said the situation in the Lobonok area was now calm, the killings were isolated incidents, and that the road to and from Juba was open.
“The situation is now calm and I used the same road to go and came back to Juba. Some of these are used as propaganda to threaten our local citizens to be living in fear all the time. I regard the two incents as isolated accidents,” Wani said. “Lobonok is very safe. As I said, we are going to order the cattle keepers to leave the area. And I would like to inform our citizens who are in Juba to return to their homes.”
Reminded that many orders instructing cattle herders to vacate have not been heeded to, Commissioner Wani said the authorities are going to engage the cattle herders in dialogue so that they leave willingly.
“We are getting engaged in talking to the cattle keepers and local communities. We are currently implementing the same decision of the president,” Wani said. “We are making them understand the impact of the presence of cattle among the farmers. We want them to go back voluntarily. We are not going to force them out because the best solution is acceptance.”