By James Innocent
Internally displaced communities of Minyori, Logo, Jonsuk, Soka Pisak, Wuji and Mukaya Payam in Lainya County are calling for urgent humanitarian assistance to rescue the situation of the IDPs where hundreds of households live without food, medicines, clothes and house belongings as a result of cattle herders surrounding Lainya and Yei County of Central Equatoria state.
The herders are killing and removing row cassava for feeding their animals making Agriculture a thread for the communities who are currently chased from their own homes and the IDPs are displaced as a result of the cattle herders who invaded their agricultural areas.
An IDP from Mukaya of Lainya County who remained anonymous with fear to expose his name explains that the cattle herders looted the belongings of the citizens. He said the herders raided their animals, took their utensils, clothes blankets and destroyed farms.
The internally displaced regrets that no attention has been accorded to the displaced population and others integrated with their relatives in Yei. He appeals to the government and humanitarian organizations to intervene with food and none food items since people of Mukaya have not settled since the crises and up to now they are displaced with nothing. They are currently living in the areas of Atende, and Kanjoro.
He said, “the cattle herders entered Mukaya and started destroying people’s crops, looting people’s properties like utensils, cloths, food, and when they questioned them, they replied to us by cocking their guns especially the young ones holding arms and many left their houses and are currently residing in Yei River County without any assistance and I urge the national government and humanitarian organizations to intervene immediately to help the suffering community of Mukaya,” he said.
Meanwhile the head chief of Mukaya Payam of Lainya County Justin Ladu expresses disappointment that the cattle herders drove their animals to farming lands to destroy farm lands. He calls on the government of Lainya county and humanitarian organizations to rescue the suffering citizens.
He stated that, “the displaced people have no food to eat as they were chased with nothing in hand living in abandoned houses of people who left to Uganda as refugees, the cattle keepers looted all the readymade sorghum and they also burnt the bush where they used to hide their food and the cattle destroyed all cassavas,” he stated.