Security forces clashed with and dispersed angry crowds who were targeting Sudanese traders in Aweil town, Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, on Wednesday morning.  

The angry town residents targeted Sudanese traders after reports circulated that one of the foreign merchants defiled and dismembered a six-year-old girl before dumping her body parts in a pit latrine in the Ayuang residential area in Aweil town on Tuesday evening.

Aweil Town Mayor Garang Diing Deng told Radio Tamazuj Wednesday that the Sudanese trader killed the young girl after realizing that she had lost consciousness after defiling her.

“Yesterday (Tuesday) there is a Sudanese man from Darfur living in a compound in Ayaung with the wife of somebody’s called Lual who is an SSPDF soldier serving in Kiir Dem,” Mayor Diing explained. “Lual’s six-year-old daughter was raped by the man (Sudanese trader) and after he saw the child had convulsed, he dismembered the child into small pieces and threw the body into the latrine. A sister of the deceased child saw what happened and reported the matter to the family.”

“When people rushed to the latrine, there was blood and when the latrine was excavated, the dead child was found inside and the police Criminal Investigations Department initiated investigations and the suspect was arrested after his clothes were found stained with blood,” he added.

According to Mayor Diing, the news spread through the town, and on Wednesday morning the youth and other residents wanted to lynch Sudanese traders but the security forces intervened.

Dut Chuor, a resident of Aweil town, condemned the incident and said it can negatively impact the Sudanese community in the town.

“This is a complicated case because an adult cannot do such a thing. He was supposed to respect himself. The incident will bring problems for him and his other brothers (Sudanese) who had no part in it,” he said.

The Sudanese community leader in Aweil, Nurain Yosif, said the reaction of the angry mobs was motivated by robbery but thanked the government and security forces for controlling the situation and protecting the Sudanese nationals.

“What happened was a robbery move but the government forces, military, police, and national security are controlling the situation and many Sudanese were taken to a police headquarters and it is said the governor has ordered a curfew and will deploy security agencies in residential areas,” Yosif said.    

Some people who were baying for the blood of the Sudanese traders have been arrested while some security forces were injured while trying to control the angry mobs. Shops remained closed and the state government banned assemblies of people and ordered a curfew.