Traders of the Amiet Market in the Abyei Administrative Area are counting losses after a huge fire blazed through the market Monday afternoon destroying property of unknown value.
The market was established last year to sustain peace between the Ngok Dinka and Misseriya tribes in the area.
Local authorities and traders from the area attributed the fire outbreak to negligence and strong winds.
Deng Nyok Rou, the Commissioner of Ameth Aguok County told Radio Tamazuj that the police and local authorities have launched an investigation to ascertain the real cause of the fire.
"The western part of the market was razed down by the fire and it moved to the eastern part of the road. The fire was huge because there was too much wind and so all the shops with goods were burned down and up to now we have not established the cause of the fire. Some think it is out of negligence. Maybe a fire was left in the open and wind took it but up to now we cannot tell," he explained.
Maror Majok is one of the traders affected by the fire. He said he has to leave the area after losing everything in the fire.
"The fire started near the mosque and from there it caught jerrycans of petrol and the fire caught the market, burning down the whole market. The whole market has burned down, there is nothing that has remained in the market. We have even information that people have lost lives because they have lost their money, there as a trader from Fur who jumped into the fire," he recounted.
Athok Pius, a tea maker at Amiet Market said she lost everything in the fire and will also have to leave. According to her, she had hidden thousands of pounds in her shop which was burnt to ashes.
"All my belongings were burned because when we saw fire we thought it was not going to reach us. When it reached it was too late because I have beds, chairs, clothes so when I tried I only managed to save five chairs, 11 chairs were burned, two beds, mattress and baggage of clothes and 400,000 SSP which I had buried in the house. I have no single coin left with me, all tables for making tea were burned," she exclaimed.
Athok, who was speaking after arriving in Abyei from Amiet said her dreams had been shattered by the fire.
Commissioner Nyok blames the fire on illegal constructions within the market, blocking roads and open spaces.
"For the catastrophe of this kind not to happen people should not construct randomly, this happened because people are constructing randomly. This market was surveyed but people started erecting buildings randomly and even on the roads leaving no open place. The market needs reorganization so that roads are not blocked,"
The commissioner said this is the second time for such an incident to happen but he assures traders that once rebuilt, they will have to adhere to measures placed to avoid a recurrence of the same.