By Adia Jildo
At least sixteen soldiers have been arrested for the killing of two civilians in Rubeke village in Yei County in Central Equatoria which took place on Saturday 26th March 2022 at 11 A.M. in the morning.
A Member of Parliament representing Yei River County in the National Legislative Assembly Peter Lomude said that the forces who were settled at Abegi moved 14 miles to loot civilians in the villages leaving two dead.
“Nicholas Tongun, Clement Lubari were tied and shot with a gun and then the wife to Nicholas was cut using panga and they looted people’s property,” Lomude said.
Lomude said that the mandate of the SSPDF is to protect the people and not to violate human rights stating that the act has been happening since 2018.
“The SSPDF who were supposed to protect the civilians are the ones now acting on the civilian population by killing, looting and displacing civilians,” he said.
He said the people of Yei are hindered from returning to their villages to farm and cater for their livelihood.
“The villages have become so insecure from the SSPDF. People whose lives fully depend on agriculture are not able to go and farm,” Lomude said.
He described the acts as scary to people and hindering their stay as a result most have taken refuge in Yei town.
“The security in Yei is not stable since 2018. With this current situation, nobody is willing to come to the village with this kind of thing,” he said.
Lomude said most forces are occupying civilian areas, which is a threat to the livelihood of the people. He called on the leadership of the SSPDF to intervene immediately and discipline soldiers involved in the murder.
“We want to see that justice is served and the forces should be withdrawn from civilian areas to allow civilians to continue with their daily lives,” he said.
He said the culprits should be produced before court to pay justice for the murder of the two civilians.