Western Equatoria, a green and fertile state in the southwestern corner of South Sudan on the border with Congo and the Central African Republic, has been one of the most peaceful parts the country since the civil war started in late 2013.

It is inhabited by several tribes which generally live peacefully with each other, including the Zande, Moro, Avokaya, Baka and others. However, in recent weeks the security situation has worsened and thousands of people have fled from new violence and attacks on civilians.

In August, President Salva Kiir removed the elected governor of Western Equatoria State, Joseph Bakosoro, and replaced him with a new caretaker governor. Last week, Kiir also announced the division of the state into three new ones. These changes complicated the political situation in the state. The newly appointed caretaker governor of the state, Patrick Raphael Zamoi, is calling on citizens to preach peace and unity and not to join armed groups in the state.

But at the same time, the governor admitted at a press conference on Tuesday that armed groups are recruiting youths and opening training centres in remote areas. He declined to say that there was any rebellion in the state, instead referring to groups of “organized criminals” and local militias known as “Arrow Boys.”

Clashes in Mundri and attacks on civilians

Last Sunday Radio Tamazuj received reports of fighting around an army base in Mundri West County. The county commissioner Hassan Bakhit explained that an unknown armed group attacked the base, sparking fighting. In the following days, citizens and local officials reported that SPLA soldiers turned on the civil population in retaliation for the attack and started targeting civilians. A local official in Lui Payam of Mundri East County told Radio Tamazuj yesterday that an army helicopter shot at civilians:

“I am now in Lui, all people had fled to bush when the gunship bombed the area for the second time because some few people were almost returning home, but the gunship bombed the people at Faraksika encouraging many people to run into the bush and now you cannot find anybody totally,” said Festos Khamis, Lui Payam official in Mundri East County.

He said that at least one person was wounded in the hand in that attack and was brought to the Lui hospital but “all the doctors in the hospital have run to the bush due to fear of gunship bombing.”

“The gunship that used to bomb people belongs to the government of South Sudan, the residents of Faraksika are civilians and the person wounded is a civilian and his name is Pedale and that is why people left Faraksika, Lui, Lainyi until Jambo payam – three payams are now affected. The gunship came twice a day and that was on the third and also on the fourth day, two days,” added Festos.

The SPLA sent reinforcements to the area but this only made the situation worse, according to local residents. A resident speaking to Radio Tamazuj by phone from the bush in the Mundri area accused SPLA forces of burning and looting houses in Mundri on Wednesday night. The source said that a local group of 'Arrow Boys' responded to the attack and forced the SPLA to run to their barracks. For his part, local official Festos Khamis also accused the soldiers of burning houses:

“The army has done bad things to the civilians – when those army from Mvolo were arriving toward Rumbek Junction, they started shooting at people and started setting the houses nearby the roadside on fire until inside Mundri Town, all the houses next to the road were burned down.”

“It was the government army that that came from Mvolo who burned houses; as Payam Administrator at Lui in Mundri East, I have never seen rebels... now I, elders and chiefs, we are here in the town but we don't have criminals among us who are causing problems, and we also have UNMISS soldiers who used to move from here daily and I have never seen criminals or rebels here in the area,” he added.

Separately, however, SPLA sources told Radio Tamazuj that they suspected the presence of an armed group in the area led by former Mundri East county commissioner, January Joni, which launched attacks on troops in the Mundri area since early this month and temporarily dislodged SPLA forces, capturing light weapons, ammunition and supplies, until the arrival of SPLA reinforcements from Mvolo.

The deputy governor of the state Bullen Hakim confirmed the burning of houses in Mundri West, telling Eye Radio in an interview that a battalion of SPLA forces was sent to the area on Wednesday. He said the soldiers opened fire as they entered the town and set houses on fire. The state official stressed that nobody attacked the SPLA forces but they alone started shooting. He said that most of the town of Mundri West has been burned.

SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer told the Juba-based Eye Radio that he has not received any report on the incident. However, other military contacts reported that the helicopter gunships attacks were ordered by the SPLA general chief of staff, Paul Malong Awan, who was angered by the setbacks suffered by SPLA troops at the hands of the unnamed armed group.

Maridi and Yambio

State authorities say the security situation is under control in other parts of the state. The governor has announced a curfew in the state capital Yambio and he disclosed that the government deployed additional troops around Yambio to prevent abductions of youths by armed groups who are recruiting in the area.

In Maridi County, the situation has stabilized after shooting incidents last month. Schools reopened on Tuesday, according to the county commissioner, but public transport to the neighboring Mundri area remains closed. Governor Zamoi told journalists on Tuesday that the government has sought to negotiate with the so-called “Arrow Boys” in Maridi in order to stabilize the situation.

Nonetheless, youths and citizens in Maridi are afraid of the army and run away when they see them, according to a member of parliament representing Maridi, Ketura Yona.

“When the citizens see a vehicle belonging to the army moving even though the army do not have any problem with the youths, the citizens run into the bush because they fear that such a thing may happen again. So that’s what is happening in Maridi, they think of anybody wearing uniform, they don’t differentiate between [SPLA] Commando and who is from the other SPLA unit,” she said.

Roadside robberies are also reported in parts of the state, which serves as a key corridor for goods traveling north into the Bahr al Ghazal region. A staff member of a relief organization based in Juba told Radio Tamazuj that a group of unknown gunmen robbed staff traveling between Maridi and Yambio on Wednesday.

'I advised them not to fight'

The situation in the state has provoked concern of the Greater Equatoria Youth Union in Juba. Daniel Abuj Ali, president of the group, says that he has offered to mediate between the Arrow Boys and the government in order to reach an amicable solution.

The youth leader explained that the local armed groups are unhappy about the national army deployment in their areas. He said that problems started when the local people had problems with Dinka pastoralists from neighboring states. The local militias believe that the SPLA troops are biased and they defended the pastoralists to commit crimes against the local communities.

Daniel Abuj Ali stressed that the government should withdraw its solders from Western Equatoria if it wants to restore stability to the state:

“We say as youths of Equatoria that the government should diagnose the problem of Western Equatoria youths. What is the problem? It should be diagnosed peacefully, not by war, people should go to them and explain it peacefully because they can talk,” he said.

Abuj added that he has contacted the 'Arrow Boys' and advised them not to fight the government. “I have listened to all their complains and I gave them an advice,” he said. “I told them, war should not be fought among the citizens, you should go back home and we will talk to the government to take the cows out from here, we will talk to the government so that the uncooperative army can be pulled out and taken to another place, and another army force that will cooperate with the youths and the citizens will be brought.”

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Mundri is deteriorating. An eyewitness told the UN Radio Miraya that the population of Mundri have been on the run for a week. He said that they fled to the forest after hearing gunfire at the army barracks. The local resident said that the civilians in the bush are suffering and are living without shelter in spite of rains.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan is calling on all parties to cease fighting and allow relief organizations access to assist the civilians.

Photo: 'Arrow Boys' in Western Equatoria in 2012, by Pulitzer Center/Trevor Snapp