By Adia Jildo
The Sunday evening clashes between Murle youth and Anyuak youth at Juba’s Mahad Internally Displaced People (IDP) has left 2 dead and about ten injured.
A women representative at Mahad IDP camp, Atur Athuor reported the incident, saying the tragedy occurred between the Murle and Anyuak community youth who settled at Mahad.
Madam Athuor said the incident had started on Saturday evening when a young man in his house was attacked by a group of drunken Murle youth with a machete leaving him in a critical condition.
“The next day they came home and got a woman. They started to disturb this woman. The woman told them to return to their homes but they did not stop, and later in the evening they attacked people again,” she said.
“This boy was on his motorcycle with his friend when they were attacked. They even hit a woman on her head and now she is in the hospital, it’s something different now,” she narrated the incident.
She said the co-existence in hostile living environment is the reason to blame for the brutal behavior of the youth.
“I call on our government to allocate different plots of land for the different tribes living in Mahad so that all these communities can start working for themselves than waiting for food aids,” she said.
The Spokesperson South Sudan police service (SSPS) Maj. Gen Daniel Justin Boula has confirmed the Sunday night clashes, saying the incident had left some deaths and several people injured.
Maj. Gen. Justin said investigation is underway to bring culprits into book. “We got someone was seriously injured and on the way to the hospital, he lost his life, 8 people injured. Culprits of the incidence have not yet been found,” he said.
Mayan Kur, the camp manager of Mahad IDP however said the incident of the fight had started from outside the camp as usual and continued into the camp.
“At 7:30 pm some Murle youth as well as Anyuak had clashed out the IDP camps and they extended their fight into the IDP camp,” Kur said.
Kur cited a related incident that had happened in 2021 when the gang groups from the two ethnic communities of Murle and Anyuak would fight in an event outside and would continue with their dispute up to the IDP camp.
“When these youth meet outside, they hurt themselves and extend up to the camp. Instead of these elderly separating them, they won’t be able to because they come all drunk,” he said.
Mayhen said clashes between the two communities have gone out of hand as it has led to death.
“Let every community be given land to live in. Let the government support us,” he urged.
He blamed the police for leaving the situation untouched citing no involvement to calm the situation.
“The police were not able to rescue the situation stating that the camp was allocated to the United Nation,” he said.