Local officials and police authorities in the newly created Tonj State say that the area is calm in the wake of clashes on 27 and 28 January 2016 that claimed more than 40 lives. Police have attributed the violence to political factors.
Raiders armed with guns attacked a village south of Thiet payam, forcing hundreds of an unarmed civilians mostly elderly people and women with children to flee their homes in search of safety and protection in swamps, according to authorities. The exact cause of the clashes is a subject of speculation among local people.
Police authorities claimed the clash was a politically instigated fight linked to the upcoming formation of the state government where some of the politicians see they would not have an opportunity to win the heart of the appointing authority since they appear to have little influence having been allies of the former state governor in Warrap State before the state was disbanded and divided into three separate states.
The attack on Thiet payam was the latest violence in a dispute ostensibly over grazing land and water in which more than 40 people were killed last week in raids and revenge attacks. The conflict has taken on political dimensions, a senior police officer said.
“We have names of several politicians, business people and local elites whom we believe have been, and are still funding the attacks and clashes between Thony and Abuok sections. They are using grazing land and water as excuses,”Deng Santo, a police officer said in an interview from Tonj town on Sunday.
Police would soon make arrests of those suspected of being behind the violence, he said. “When we arrest them, they will tell us how and where they are acquiring illegal firearms and other weapons to arm these locals,” he added.
The raiders from Abuok section attacked a village north of Tonj town, home to the government chief negotiator, Nhial Deng Nhial, killing several people including one woman and four men at dawn last Wednesday.
The Abuok section killed two of the attackers in defence, and another died while being taken to hospital. Four policemen who were escorting a local government official on tour of the scene of the attacks were also wounded when their vehicle was attacked.
Officials said they evacuated nine other wounded people to a health center in Thiet town, located 100 km north of Tonj town from the area of the attack.
“Many of them were bleeding from gunshot wounds and cuts and we had to administer first aid as we carried them to where we were hoping to get medicines, unfortunately Thiet town is empty. The health center has no medicines and some of the people have to die of bleeding. Now we have managed to bring some people here in Wau. They are giving treatment,” a relatives of one of the victims said Sunday.
Although the two sections have fought for years over access to grazing land and water, police and local officials blame the recent violence on politicians seeking to drive away parts of the population they believe will not help them in their fight against rivals in the local government. This has raised fears of a repeat of the ethnic violence that had rocked the area in the past in which hundreds of lives of the people were lost and thousands more driven from their homes. The attacks took place in spite of the deployment of more security personnel to the area.
Tonj State governor Akec Tong Aleu confirmed that clashes have occurred between his Thony section and Abuok section of the former foreign affairs minister, Nhial Deng Nhial, who is presently the chief negotiator in peace talks with armed opposition allied to the former vice president, Riek Machar.
He said the conflict forced him to suspend a trip to Juba and shortened an official visit to Kuacjok town, where he was participating in the distribution of assets and other administrative issues. Akec said the situation has now been contained after deploying more security forces.