A 29-year-old man identified as Ofere Moliho was shot dead in a thwarted cattle raid in Torit County’s Haforiere Village in Eastern Equatoria State on Sunday.
The incident unfolded after a group of youth from Hiyala went to Haforiere on a mission to rustle cattle and carry out a revenge attack but fell in an ambush laid by youth from Haforiere, leading to the death of one of the suspected rustlers while two others escaped.
According to local authorities, the body of the deceased remained at the scene as the youth from Hiyala could not pick it fearing further clashes.
Gabriel Ohide, the sub-chief of Hiyala, told Radio Tamazuj that the incident happened at midday on Sunday on the outskirts of Haforiere village.
“This incident happened yesterday (Sunday) when a group of three youths from Hiyala went to Haforiere and fell in an ambush at around midday outside Haforiere,” he said. “Maybe they were trying to raid but they were ambushed and one person called Ofere Moliho, 29, was shot dead and was the only one who died.”
The paramount chief of Hiyala Payam, Galileo Ohide, confirmed the incident and urged the government to intervene in addressing the matter before it escalates.
“I am aware of that incident that happened in Haforiere where a group went to Haforiere and were ambushed leaving Ofere Moliho dead and his dead body is still in Haforiere there since they have tension,” he stated. “Unless the government intervenes to convince Haforiere for the body to be released for burial in Hiyala, they cannot go and pick the body. They were ambushed while attempting to raid cattle and kill someone in a revenge killing.”
For her part, Angel Bernardino, a woman activist who doubles as the Executive Director of Women Initiative for Transformation and Empowerment, condemned the incident and said it demonstrates a lack of nationalism and patriotism.
“Indeed, we have really lost nationalism because if we understand this is our nation and we need peace and not violence, this would not happen. We expect the government to spend more money on security issues. The people doing this should know they are sons of Eastern Equatoria and in case of any dispute, people should sit down to dialogue,” she said. “Laying ambushes is not good because we are the same people killing ourselves. As a mother, I regret giving birth to children we expect to be future leaders but are now dying. If these killings continue, we better stop giving birth.”