Local authorities in the restive Warrap State have said that the death toll of two days of communal fighting which occurred in Romathieng Village of Tonj East County on 15 and 16 August has risen to 31 people dead and over 30 others wounded.
Violent clashes erupted between Luany-Jang of Tonj East County, Lou Paher of Tonj North County, and the Thiik community of Tonj East County who teamed up with Lou Paher to raid cattle from cattle the Luach community last week.
The commissioner of Tonj East County, Deng Kok, confirmed that fighting erupted in Romathieng when armed youth from Lou Paher and Thiik raided over 100 head of cattle from the Luany- Jang community resulted in clashes that left scores dead and injured.
"People are dying in the hospital on my side of Tonj East County. The death toll is 25 people dead from the LuanyJang and Thiik communities combined and the number of wounded is over 30 people. That is the result of two days fighting," Commissioner Kok said.
He said he managed, with his senior staff, to approach the raiders and ask them to return two prize bulls that had been rustled from the Luanyjang which caused the fighting among the communities.
"I heard that the state government formed a committee of community members to investigate, but am not waiting for them. In my capacity, I managed to collect two bulls which were the cause of the fighting and we are now on the way returning them to the owner on the Thiik side," Commissioner Kok said.
Relatedly, Commissioner Kok and his executive director escorted three people from the Rek section who were moving from the Luany to the Thiik area with 35 cows meant for marriage and compensation.
"We have escorted three people from the Rek section who feared for their lives to the border of Thiik with my executive director. There are also 30 cows for a marriage that were supposed to be taken to Thiik before the incident and the other 5 cows for compensation. All these cattle today were received by their owners,” he said.
For his part, the Tonj North County commissioner, Kuol Akoon Kuot, confirmed that his side which lost five people in the clashes has lost another life in the hospital.
"I heard from Juba that one person died from among those wounded who were taken to hospital. So, our dead people within these days have become six in number. The committee is now in Marial Lou and it will proceed to Tonj East County according to what I heard from state authorities and the fighting has stopped. It is 4 days now without clashes," he said.