The local authorities in Warrap State’s Gogrial East County and Unity State’s Mayom County on Monday confirmed that the army handed over 170 head of cattle that had been rustled to their rightful owners in Gogrial East County over the weekend.

Maluach Lueth, the commissioner of Gogrial East County said he received the cattle on Sunday from the SSPDF’s Division 11 commander in Mayen Jur Military Barracks.

“It was through negotiation by the security apparatus in Warrap State and Unity State that the 170 head cattle were handed over to SSPDF last Friday, and on Sunday, the owners received their cows at Mayen Jur Military Garrison,” he stated.

Lueth said the inhabitants of his county have never been aggressive towards their neighbors and urged the authorities in Unity State to control their armed youth.

“Gogrial East County is peaceful and does not attack neighboring counties and states. In a situation where a huge number of cattle are raided, the calves left behind later die of starvation because they cannot feed themselves. These recovered cattle are like a drop in the ocean because over 500 were raided in two separate attacks by armed youth from Mayom County,” he said. “In 2022, cattle raiding happened on both sides so Mayom returned 250 cattle from the 500 that were rustled and we returned to them 70 cattle from the few cattle stolen from Mayom by our raiders. So, this cooperation has been there and there were no raids in 2023.”

Commissioner Lueth added:  “The recent raid was unprecedented and amounted to an organized attack and Unity State should look for remaining cattle because the missing cattle are very many.”

He said that the authorities in Unity State should not blame the raid on youth under Gai Machiek, a Nuer spiritual leader domiciled in Warrap State’s Twic County because the cattle were not driven to his place in Ajak Kuac but to Mayom.

On his part, Luka Chierey, the Mayom County commissioner, lauded the security personnel for recovering and returning the cattle to the owners and pledged to return the remaining cattle if he finds them.

“When the criminals raided cattle three times from Gogrial East County, I set security to be vigilant and indeed the joint security forces managed to recover 170 cattle. The raiders resisted until one SSPDF soldier was hurt in the leg. However, it was a slight flesh wound and the bullet did not break his bone,” he explained. “I handed over the 170 cattle to Gogrial East County through the SSPDF.  I appreciate the army and police for recovering the cattle.”

“This was a joint cattle raid and theft and some criminals with some cattle did not cross back to Mayom but went to Ajak Kuac in Twic County, Warrap State.”