By Gladys Fred Kole
Eastern Equatoria State Parliamentary Caucus (EESPC) in national assembly condemned attack in Kauto Payam, Kapoeta Eastern County.
The legislators suspect that armed youths from Pibor Administrative Area are responsible for the deadly attack.
Over 32 people were killed more than 26 wounded, and more than 90 people, that include women, children, and the elderly, were on April 23, 2024, abducted by the assailants.
The raiders also went away with over 16,877 heads of cattle and 6,853 goats and sheep in Kauto as a result of the brutal attack, according to local authorities.
In a statement to the media yesterday, the parliamentarians also condemned the killing of nine people in Imehejek Administrative Payam and the killing of 57 cows in the Ngauro area of Eastern Equatoria State.
The lawmakers, however, appealed to the people of Kauto Payam and all the Toposa to remain calm and never take revenge while they wait for the government’s response.
Area legislators pleaded with all UN and humanitarian agencies to urgently help the affected people in Kauto.
“We are appealing to our national government to pursue and apprehend the culprits and bring them to justice, as well as make all possible efforts to retrieve all the raided livestock and all abducted women and children who are currently held in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area,” the MP urged.
Julius Moilinga, the Chairman of the EES Parliamentary Caucus, highlighted the peacefulness of their area, which has now come under attack by many people from different parts of the South.
“It is a sad occasion despite the fact that we have talked with them in the past and tried to resolve our coexistence, but this time it is more sinister than the previous attacks we have experienced,” he stated.
“With this magnitude of losses to cattle, human beings, and abductees, we as the members of the TNL are bound to respond,” Moilinga expressed.
He stressed that their communities are for peace, but their peace has been taken for granted, as they were encroached upon with a lot of losses in terms of death, raids, and abductions.
For his part, Angelo Lokinga Lotabo, the Area MP of Kauto, Kapoeta East County Constituency, called upon the national government to immediately deploy security forces between Pibor and Kapoeta East locations.
Lokinga noted that the area seems to be insecure without a security force in case of any attack or insecurity along that side.
Another MP, Patrick Lodinea Kotein, representing Kapeota East County, said the suspected Murle have been raiding in that area on a small scale, but this time they came in a big number of over 1,000.
“They were monitored even when they were coming; they came directly from that side, and even when they raided the cattle, they headed there. Also, we have information on the ground that the cows went through Pama town; that’s why we are saying those criminals are suspected Murle youths,” he justified, pointing fingers at the attackers.
MP Victor Omuho Ohidai Secretary General EES Parliamentary Caucus also acknowledged that on the ground when people are fighting it is not only the attackers who will be killing people but some will also be killed.
“At one point, a few Murles also lost their lives on the ground, and they were identified by their own traditional marks. Also, the people on the ground are those who they abducted, and some who managed to escape are the ones who came and reported who their abductors are,” he further explained.
Samuel Buhori Lotti, deputy chairperson of the specialized committee on national security and public order at the parliament, noted that the issue of murder and child abduction is not something of today, as they have faced the brunt in their region for a long time.
“All the communities around Eastern Equatoria have faced a lot of abduction cases from Murle; it’s not the first time; it’s been years, and we can count them in thousands among the Peri, Lopit, Lokoya, and Toposa. This has been a culture that has so far continued; basically, the abductors know the motive better,” Buhori expressed.
Efforts to get comments from Pibor Administrative Area were futile by Press time.