By Matia Samuel Timatio
Two people over the weekend were reportedly killed and the driver injured in an ambush by unknown gunmen along Juba-Mundri Road of Western Equatoria state.
The deceased were identified as James Orote Adriano 33 years and James Elia 30 years from Yambio and Nzara counties.
Speaking to No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper over the weekend, Albino Utho Mariano, the police Commissioner said that the dead bodies would be taken to Yambio for burial.
“Yes it was a vehicle which was coming from Juba to Mundri and it felt into the ambush of unknown gun men. The unknown gun men had pick arms so they attacked those people and there were no any accompanying soldiers and the two were shot to death and the driver is still alive admitted in Lui Hospital” Albino said.
He stated that the roads from Jambo to Mundri have been surrounded by rebel forces loyal to Thomas Cirilo especially during this rainy season where forest has become very thick capable to accommodate them.
Furthermore he underscored that rebels and unknown gunmen who robe people along the roads were available without doubts but couldn’t be traced by the state government or the civilians.
“The state did its part to deploy security along the roads but the rebels have no base. They are moving from side to side when the security is deployed they will leave the area and attack where there are no security forces and the government is trying to control the security but it’s very difficult. The security is deployed along the roads since last month, people are standby” Albino explained.
He suggested provision of security escort to traders amid their trading movement from Juba to Western Equatoria State for their protection or else pause them until the situation normalized.
At the same note, Yoani Adriano an elder brother to James Orote Adriano 33 years who was killed in the ambush condemned the incident terming violation of the peace agreement.
“When something happened like this it means we have not seen the real peace which they said it was signed. This is because the killing of the innocent people does not give any sign of peace in the country. If the roads are to be safe, we could have not lost our dear beloved ones” Yoani expressed his disappointment.
He added that the family would meet to decide further steps over the death of their brother and come with concrete ways to oversee the matter.
Last week, seven passengers reportedly survived when their vehicle run down into an ambush carried out by unknown gunmen in Maridi County of Western Equatoria State.
In response, Western Equatoria State Governor Gen. Alfred Futuyo Karaba said Insecurity now in South Sudan has become a general issue since graduation of the unified forces would have remedied the situation.
“If the reunification of the forces is done, there will be one army meaning that there will be no criminals again in the bush. In all the states, there are no forces that can work since they are all taken to the cantonment areas for almost two to three years without salary or food. Could the forces be graduated and deployed to all the states to trace the criminals killing people, the situation would have culminated. Now you can’t identify who is who, who is from the SSPDF or from the cantonment area because everyone is just left to put on the army uniform as he wants and everybody is a Brigadier or Liwa which will not take this country anywhere. It’s hard for the state to arrest the wrong doers because everyone has a rank” he said.
Governor Futuyo called on South Sudan government to graduate the forces in the cantonments so that the civilians can have protected.
“Civilians are tired, even us in the states are tired. You find that those returning from the Bush come back and settle in the Areas. The forces that have stayed in the cantonment for two years need to be graduated because what happens now is due to lack of forces on the ground. Stop claiming that there is no money, V8s, Storage houses and Suits are being bought. Where are they getting money from? Protect the lives of civilians so that government can work well” Futuyo stressed .