By Mamer Abraham
Three people were killed, and three others wounded in a clash between Duk County and Twic East County youths on the “bioth-agany” island in Jonglei State of South Sudan.
Jacob Chol, the commissioner of Twic East County, said the fighting ensued between some youths from the Ayual community of Twic East County and the Hol community of Duk County over a burned fishing net.
He added that one of the prominent Twic East wrestlers, identified as Deng Dau-aka-Moradong, has lost his life.
The youth from the Twic East community reportedly accused the youth of Duk of setting fire to their fishing net.
After some quarrels, an unidentified gunman opened fire and killed three people and wounded the other three, all from Twic East County.
“It is true; three people were killed, and three people are alive now,” Chol told the No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper in a telephone interview from Twic East County yesterday.
According to the commissioner, the situation was already contained, and a boat had already been sent to ferry the wounded people to Bor Hospital for further management.
“The situation has been contained, and I have already sent a boat in the morning to bring those wounded people,” he continued.
“It was a matter of fishing nets, and then an unknown gunman started firing. Some dried eelgrass was burned down, which unknowingly burned fishing nets,” he explained.
“So, they had been accusing the people that you were the cause of the fire that burned down our nets. And then the accused said they did not know the guy who burned, so it was like an argument.”
Chol urged the two communities to observe restraint, saying the case has already been reported to the state government in Jonglei State for the assailant to be brought to justice.
“We actually advised the community that we don’t want any more people to lose their lives again. And we are following the case; the case has already been reported to the governor in Jonglei State, and these people should be brought to book,” he noted.
Call for disarmament
Last week, the governor of Jonglei State, Denay Jock Chagor, appeared in parliament to answer questions related to intercommunal violence in his state.
The governor stated that they had tried all they could to stop intercommunal violence but were not successful, and he urged the national government to disarm civilians if intercommunal violence is to be curbed.
Last month, armed criminals attacked Duk County, Jonglei State, and killed four people and abducted four children, according to authorities.
Peter Latjor Chuol, the commissioner of Duk County, said the incident happened after eight people were attacked outside Poktap in Duk County.
“Those killed include an elderly man, two women, and a young girl, while four children who were in their company were abducted,” he said.