Butchers in the Lakes State capital have expressed concerns over growing insecurity in the town, saying it could ruin their work, Good News Radio in Rumbek reported on Monday.
The complaint comes after raiders attacked the slaughterhouse on Friday, injuring the guard and disappeared with 18 cows, which were meant to be slaughtered for Saturday.
Butchers’ Association Deputy Chairperson Chirong Acuoth said that the raiders dispersed them into the bush and took all their cows. He described this as one of the worst incidents they had experienced, calling on Rumbek police to help follow the criminals.
It was also reported that raiders entered Malith marketplace within Rumbek on the night of 24 March, stealing an unconfirmed number of cows. A local official described the raid as the first within the Rumbek main market since the country’s 2005 peace agreement.
Security services carried out door-to-door searches for illegal firearms on Saturday. One soldier was shot dead during the exercise.
Violence and unrest
Nearly 100 people have been killed in inter-clan clashes in the state in the latest cycle of violence, according to Deputy Governor Santo Dumic Koric. This ranks the state as one of the most conflict-affected in the country, in spite of the absence of any SPLA-in-Opposition forces in the state.
Like neighboring states, Lakes is under the rule of a caretaker military governor, Maj-Gen Matur Chut Dhuol. The sacked former governor of the state, who ruled from his election in 2010 until his removal by presidential decree in early 2013, is now part of the SPLM ‘third bloc’ opposition group in Addis Ababa.
Other recent incidents of violence include an attack by one clan against another at a traditional ceremony Sunday at Timyic, which reportedly left dead eight people and wounded 14, as well as a gunfight between herders and police in Wulu County on Thursday, leaving two dead.
In another sign of unrest, a large group of youth in the state capital were rounded up a week ago for unclear reasons, after watching a football match on television in the market. They were kept overnight in jail and taken to the Rumbek Town Court the next day.
Related coverage:
Awerial Commissioner removed after Kalthok, Yirol incidents (2 Feb.)
Inter-clan fighting breaks out in Lakes state (25 March)
Detained student in Rumbek says ‘falsely accused’ (27 Jan.)