Officials of the Warrap State government and national lawmakers who were led by Governor Brig. Gen. Manhiem Bol Malek to a peace rally in Gogrial East County on Saturday had to flee the venue after youth started shooting at them.

A delegation of legislators who represent Gogrial East and Gogrial West counties in the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) in Juba was dispatched by President Salva Kiir to persuade the people of Gogrieal East to embrace peace and amicably resolve the conflict which erupted earlier this month between the Apuk Giir section of Warrap and the Marial-bai community of Jur River County in Western Bahr el Ghazal State.

In the ensuing commotion, one civilian who was attending the rally was shot dead on the spot.

Warrap State Information Minister William Wol Mayom confirmed to Radio Tamazuj Tuesday that the rally was indeed interrupted by gunfire but doubted that the government officials were the target.

“It was not an attack on the convoy. It was a peace rally organized by Governor Brig. Gen. Manhiem Bol Malek for the delegation sent by President Kiir, a delegation comprised of national members of parliament representing Gogrial East and Gogrial West, to come and address to issue of Manyang particularly the side of Warrap State in the area of Boiyar in Gogrial East County,” he explained. “On 18 November (Saturday) at 2:30 p.m., the delegation left Kuajok for Matel where the peace rally was organized by the commissioner. The delegation was peacefully and warmly received by the community of Gogrial East and the meeting was convened under a very big mango tree in the compound of the late Chief Ngor Ater and the meeting began and was going on very well.”

“The message of the president to the citizens in Warrap and also in Jur River in Western Bahr el Ghazal State is that the senseless fighting must stop and the issue of land dispute should be resolved amicably by the leadership,” Minister Wol added.

He however said that the meeting descended into chaos by sudden gunfire when a youth representative was allowed to address the rally.

“When the representative was invited to come and talk on behalf of the local youth, the interruption began when one person ran into a tukul (hut), picked a gun, came out, and started firing bullets in the direction of the meeting.  This interrupted the rally and one person who was listening while standing near a borehole was shot and killed on the spot,” he narrated. “This forced the officials and delegation to run into the vehicles, the convoy of the governor, where we were making inquiries about the reason for and where the attack came. There were a lot of expectations that people from Marial-bai stormed the meeting but some people said the attack was from within the community.”

According to Wol, several youths then ran into houses and emerged with AK-47 rifles and machine guns and started moving towards the direction of the delegation's convoy.

“So, we urgently rushed into our vehicles and we drove off in the direction of Kuajok town. When we tried to penetrate the crowd, we experienced gunshots directed at our convoy,” he recounted. “There was a police Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) in the convoy which was patrolling and it sustained more than 20 bullets including from PKM machine guns because it was seriously targeted.”

The minister said the delegation safely reached the Warrap State capital Kuajok in the evening.

He added that the state government has formed a committee to investigate the matter.