A man, Oyou Akec Oyou, was shot dead by a suspected Rizeigat pastoralist in the Nyinbany area in Achana Payam of Aweil West County in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State on Tuesday night, a local official said.
Aweil West County Commissioner Marko Majok Piol told Radio Tamazuj Thursday that the deceased was killed by a suspected Sudanese pastoralist after differences over shepherding wages. He said the killer was pursued by local youths but managed to get away.
“We have security issues in Aweil West County and a person was killed in an area called Nyinbany in Achana Payam and it is not known up to now who killed him, but he was killed by the Rizeigat because there was a little boy who was herding cattle belonging to an Arab man and his uncle took him back after the herder failed to pay a cow as a yearly wage,” said Majok.
“The boy was taken by his uncle to Nyinbany area to farm and while people were chatting in the house at night, an unknown gunman came in and shot dead the uncle of the boy and when people ran after him, they did not find him,” he added.
He identified the deceased as 40-year-old Uyou Akec.
The Dinka Malual peace committee chairperson in Aweil North and Aweil West, Atak Noon Anguei, said Uyou Akec was killed by the Rizeigat and that such activities are not allowed when people are in a peace conference.
“Uyou Akec Uyou was killed by the Rizeigat in Achana when the accused opened live bullets at the former’s farm residence and the body was brought last night and is not buried up to now,” said Noon. “We are supersized that people are in the peace conference and such things are taking place. Such things disappoint us the Dinka Malual.”
For his part, Mohamud Fadul al-Nabi Shaarif, one of the Rizeigat delegates attending the ongoing peace conference in Aweil West County, said they did not have knowledge about the incident and promised to comment after getting details.
“We have just arrived here and we do not know anything about it. We are just entering the conference and we will update you after we get clear information,” he said.