A trader has been killed in a road ambush by armed assailants in Greater Pibor Administrative Area’s (GPAA) Jebel Boma County on Saturday morning, authorities said.
Jacob Werchum Jouk, the GPAA Information minister, told Radio Tamazuj that the businessman was murdered while taking goods for sale in Raad town on the South Sudan-Ethiopia border.
“On Saturday at 11 a.m., three of our traders were attacked while taking goods from Jebel Boma Town to Raad for sale. The attack occurred just two kilometers outside Raad Town resulting in the death of one trader, the other two escaped unhurt,” he said.
The minister said the attack was carried out by armed youth suspected to have come from the neighboring GPAA’s Pochalla area.
“According to the survivors who escaped and are currently in Raad, their assailants are suspected to be Anyuak criminals from Pochalla and we condemn this attack,” he said.
However, Otho Okoti, the Pochalla South County commissioner, said they were unaware of the attack.
“We are not aware of this attack, and we have yet to be informed by our counterparts in the rest of GPAA,” he stated. “I appeal to my counterparts in Jebel Boma County to keep us informed when such incidents occur.”
A civil society activist and the executive director of INTREPID South Sudan (ISS), Bol Deng Bol, condemned the attack and called for immediate government intervention, expressing fears of escalation amidst the already precarious situation in Greater Jonglei.
“Anyuaks in Akobo or Pochalla are largely peaceful. If it is true that they were involved in the attack, it either means they were provoked or acted in self-defense,” he stated. “However, in either case, this brings us to a need for dialogue among rival communities in Jonglei State and GPAA. On Saturday, we met to discuss building tensions in Greater Jonglei.”
“Recently, there were reports of attacks on Pibor and it is reported that mobilization is still ongoing in Jonglei State so this Christmas will be a difficult one and we therefore called for a unified force to be deployed to act as a buffer,” he added.