Over 20 people have been killed and four others injured in attacks allegedly carried out by assailants from the Arab Misseriya community on Sunday in the Abyei region, local officials and UNISFA said.
Sudan and South Sudan are disputing the oil-rich Abyei area. The two countries are yet to agree on the mapping of the border since South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011.
UNISFA was deployed in June 2011 to protect civilians under the imminent threat of physical violence.
Abyei’s information minister Ajang Deng Miyen told Radio Tamazuj on Monday that armed men from the Misseriya community killed 27 people in the Kol-Bol area of Abyei on Sunday.
“The armed Misseriya attacked Kol-Bol, 2 Kilometers away from Abyei, and killed 27 people and wounded four others. The wounded are in a government hospital and the hospital is congested because of the Anet incident and this Misseriya attacks,” Minister Ajang said.
The information minister urges UNISFA and the national government to intervene and protect the people of Abyei. “This is their tradition because Misseriya always attacks civilians of Abyei and this time they came with heavy guns and horses and UNISFA is not doing enough to protect people of Abyei,” Ajang said.
He added, “Our concern as a government is to urge UNISFA to do their mandate so that civilians are protected and national government should speed up and address the issue of Twic because the situation is very bad and hopeless and people are displaced to the western side of Abyei.”
Meanwhile, Abyei’s Paramount Chief Bulabek Deng Kuol said the government is not doing enough to protect the people of Abyei whom he says are being attacked from the south by the Twic community and from the north by the Misseriya.
For its part, UNISFA confirmed in a statement to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday that the Abyei Main Community Protection Committee (CPC) had recovered 23 bodies from the attack.
“Following reports of gunfire in Madingthon area around 1500 hours on 6 March, own troops deployed to the area to prevent an escalation. Around 1930 hours the same day, CPC reported that they had recovered about 23 dead bodies with the assistance of community members. It was alleged that the Director-General, Ministry of Local Government and Law Enforcement Agencies, and a CPC member were among the deceased. An Ecology staff who doubles as Chairperson of ‘Roots Group and Acting Theatre was also reportedly killed in his home at Abyei Thony, near Mading Tong,” the statement reads in part.
Sunday’s attacks follow an attack on Saturday where at least seven people were killed in the Madingthon village of Abyei by suspected Sudanese Misseriya, Abyei authorities said. This information was collaborated by UNISFA.
UNISFA said, “The CPC found four dead bodies at the scene, two of whom were about 40 years. The other two were about 35 and 37 years old. Two others aged 35 and 51 years who were severely injured during the attack died of their wounds at Ameth Bek Hospital.”
UNISFA also added that suspected Misseriya attackers who were on motorbikes and horses sustained some casualties including four deaths during the attack on 5 March.
According to UNISFA, the attacks are alleged to be in revenge for the 16 February 2022 attack on members of the Misseriya community by suspected Ngok Dinka tribesmen.
Misseriya community leaders could not immediately be reached for comment.