A 40-year-old soldier attached to the Wounded Heroes Unit, Joseph Olima, was killed during a cattle raid in the outskirts of Torit town last Saturday.
Armed men attacked four kraals in the same location at different times on Saturday, rustling 1,727 head of cattle from kraals in the Safari Link area and another 200 from Hai Lotuko Kraal outside the Eastern Equatoria State capital.
Maj. Justine Kleopus Takuru, the police spokesperson in Torit told Radio Tamazuj, “It was on the 13 March, Saturday, the report came to us at around 1:30 pm from a civilian called Mayen Machok Garang, 44, a resident of Hai Silak near the military barracks here that they took their animals grazing around Oudo. Some people came and raided the cattle.”
Maj. Takuru explains, “After 10 minutes another man named Matteo came and reported that his cattle were also raided in the same place and that the person taking care of those cattle was killed. In the morning a force went to confirm what exactly happened, so we confirmed that a cattle keeper was killed. He is called Joseph Olima, 40 years old, a soldier belonging to the wounded heroes unit. We brought his body to the hospital and later handed it over to his relatives.”
The police spokesperson however says some cattle returned while the raiders went away with the majority.
“Some of these cows that belong to Matteo returned after the raiders killed that person. Up to yesterday, the cattle returned reached 113. The majority of the cattle taken from Safari Link did not return. As of yesterday, only 34 cattle had returned. The majority, like 1,600 plus did not come back. The raiders went through New Kenya, which is the border of Tirangore. There is follow-up going on and we have opened an official case,” Maj. Takuru said.
Torit County Commissioner Andrew Philipson confirmed the raids and said the government is trying to work with the youth to bring an end to rustling.
“I got the information that some cows disappeared from the side of Kineitye near the bridge and they were heading east of Torit. We have to use other means by getting information from the local chiefs. These are the people on the ground and we will give you feedback,” Philipson said.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of Eastern Vision on Rehabilitation and Development Agency (EVRDA), a civil society organization in Eastern Equatoria State, Oryema Emmanuel, said it is the role of security organs to protect the lives of citizens and their property.
“If we have a competent government, they are supposed to provide security. Whether you have cattle or not, it is the work of the security organs to make sure that nobody is killed. Raiding by nature is not good, so the government has failed to provide security for the protection of the cattle and the individuals who own them,” according to Oryema. “It is not only the raiding, three days ago some homes were robbed and they took a lot of property. People were put under gunpoint, so the robbing is not normal but people who are robbing are using the gun.”
Oryema called upon the government to complete the implementation of the security arrangements.