By Mamer Abraham
Parliamentary caucus of Twic East, Duk, and Bor Counties in Jonglei State has called for an expeditious prosecution of those responsible for the killings on Bioth-Agany Island.
In a statement signed by Deng Dau Deng, chairperson of the parliamentary caucus of three counties, the leaders called for an urgent need to bring the perpetrators of the murder at the fishing camp to justice.
“We, the Parliamentarians from Bor, Duk, and Twic East counties… call upon the Jonglei State Government to expedite their approaches to apprehending the real culprits and bringing them to book,” Deng stated in a statement communicating the resolution of the caucus meeting.
The caucus also called for the three communities of Bor, Twic East, and Duk Counties to coexist and resolve the issue through dialogue.
“We, the Parliamentarians from Bor, Duk, and Twic East counties… appreciate and encourage the peace-loving communities of Twic East and Duk Counties, especially the Ayual and Hol communities, to continue dialoguing to resolve this issue,” the statement added.
They called for the intervention of the national government to expedite the joint engagement of local paramount chiefs and traditional authorities.
The incident occurred on October 17 after a fishing net was accidentally burned while eelgrass was being burned.
This issue resulted in a quarrel between the youth of the two communities of Duk, specifically the Hol community, and Twic East, specifically the Ayual community, as they traded accusations against each other.
It was then that an unknown gunman later opened fire against the Twic East community youth, killing three people, including the famous wrestler Deng Dau Barach, alias Deng-moradong, and wounding three others.
Last week, Jacob Chol, the commissioner of Twic East County, said they had dispatched a boat to ferry the wounded people to Bor for further management, calling for the two communities to refrain from revenge and allow the state government to follow up on the case amicably for justice to prevail over the culprits.
On Sunday, Maj. Gen. Elia Kosta, the police commissioner in Jonglei State, said some people had been identified from the island and were arrested at the state capital, Bor, to de-escalate the situation.
He added that the state government and police had already launched an investigation to identify the true culprits for justice to take its course.