By Adia Jildo
The protesting community of Nimule town has blocked a section of the Juba-Nimule-Highway in Malakia Centre erecting tents and paraded corpses of the chief and other two people who were killed along Nimule Mugali road.
The police inspector in Nimule town, David Kasmiro said the murder of chief Ebele John Alex, came after the chief reacted on some young unidentified young man when was taking his photo.
The young man was taking the photo of Chief Ebele during a meeting. “Two people were murdered and when they were found, their corpses were taken to the mortuary in Nimule. The chief and the mourners were having a meeting to contribute for the burial of the 2 dead people at his office when one man came and started taking their photo,” he narrated.
The two slain youth whose funeral arrangement led to the shooting of chief are Andruga William, and Korica Moses who were killed in cold blood at Ganzi, a village in Mugali Payam of Magwi County in Eastern Equatoria State.
The police inspector stated that the two young men were found dead, lying down. He further said that the young man who killed the late chief during the funeral arrangement meeting took the gun that belonged to his brother, (a soldier) and shot the chief in cold blood, just after he was confronted and told not to take picture of the people in the fund-raising meeting.
Kasmiro said the protestors who stormed the road had refused to evacuate the road at Nimule center for traffic flow.
“We told them to take the corpses away from the road so that cars can have access but they refused,” the police inspector echoed.
Kasmiro said that 3 people had been arrested, and are in police custody. The three included the alleged suspected murderer, the owner of the gun (soldier) and his cousin.
He said the situation was appalling and needed an immediate intervention to prevent further conflicts.
According to a source that chose anonymity for security reasons, the suspect for the shooting had come to attend a meeting where the community was discussing where to bury the two persons who were beheaded along Nimule-Mugali road over the weekend.
“This boy came and started taking the photos of the chief. The chief stopped him but he continued when the people chased him away,” he said.
The police inspector also said the suspect had set a neighbour’s house on fire before he entered his house and shot a bullet through his locked door that landed on the chief.
“They were in a meeting when someone took their photo. When they realized that their photo was taken, they got angry and chased him and on reaching home, chief was trying to stop them. This man ran in and picked a gun and shot the bullet from inside that killed the chief,” he said.
He said, the chief had wanted to stop the young man from doing destructive things that he had started.
Earlier in the afternoon, eyewitness said cars, motorcycles were not moving as the road was being blocked using tents and demonstrators who laid the corpses on the road as a sign of anger against the inhuman act that left the chief and other 2 people dead in Nimule.
Sadly, latest reports as of Monday evening indicated that the Nimule town police inspector David Kasmiro who earlier in the day spoke to No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper about the situation, got shot at his left leg by a stray bullet.
The incident followed confrontation between security forces and the protestors as they tried to drive out the angry mourners from the highway.
Reports from reliable sources on the ground also stated that the appalling situation was getting chaotic and tense following the wounding of the police inspector who was rushed to the hospital for medical attention.