The Balanda community youth have strongly condemned Western Equatoria State’s Tambura County Commissioner Mathew Mabenge for fighting their traditional chief while attending a security meeting.
Last week, the Commissioner reportedly threw a bottle of water at the chief after a disagreement.
The youth last Thursday petitioned Western Equatoria State Governor Alfred Futuyo Karaba to take action and demand an apology from the Commissioner.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Saturday, the Balanda youth chairperson, Henry Bangada Assaya, said that last week Commissioner Mabenge called a security meeting which involved all the Tambura communities, but he acted aggressively against the Balanda chief in public.
“There has been an inter-communal violence in Tambura between the Abungara clan of the Azande, which the Commissioner belongs to and the Balanda. We have tried to make efforts several times, but the Abungara have refused to attend peace conferences,” Assaya claimed.
Assaya said that just a day after a peace conference, fighting erupted at night, in which two people were killed and three others were injured.
“We don’t know what happened in Tambura again, a gun fire exchange started at night and in the morning, we founded a Balanda youth slaughtered and others injured,” he said.
The youth leader, however, said the commissioner had vowed that any chief would be held accountable for trouble in their jurisdiction.
For his part, Mabenge confirmed his aggressive action against the traditional chief, but claimed that the matter had been resolved and he was ready to reconcile with the traditional leader.
He said he had acted out of anger that was triggered by the absence of the other Azande chiefs from the meeting.
The Commissioner said the meeting was meant to resolve all the differences that were aggravating conflicts between the Azande and Balanda.