By Yang Ater Yang
At least two people have been killed and three others wounded in clashes between two sub-clans of Cueibet County, Lakes State.
Lakes State police Spokesman, Major Elijah Mabor Makuac said the clashes erupted between two clans of Pagok and Padol at the side of Pagoor Payam
According to the police spokesperson, some individuals from other clans intervened and separated the fighting but unfortunately, lives were already lost in the gunfight.
“They killed 2 people, and 3 others were wounded in the incident that happened on Sunday, and the wounded were evacuated to Cueibet County Hospital for treatment,” he said.
Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) director in Lakes State, Daniel Laat Kon said the fighting began among relatives who share things together.
“You know since the last past months, there have been incidents of fighting here and there, in Rumbek center, Cueibet, and even in part of Rumbek East County,” he said.
Laat said that the fighting seems not to end if firearms are still in the hands of the civil population.
According to Laat, fighting or attacks had reduced in the last 2 years due to limited firearms but now it seems there is a rearming of people in the state.
He said noted that people have returned arms back to the cattle camps and also to the villages, giving the reason rising cases of fighting among the citizens.
“Because we have been carrying out disarmament in Lakes State but the arms still returned into the hands of civilians,” Laat said.
He said the only way to stop this rearming, is for the government to disarm them again.
“When you see that the arms have been removed, you see there is stability at that particular time and this shows that if there are arms in the hands of civilians, there is no stability,” he noted.
He said the only solution to establish peace in Lakes State is the disarmament of the civil population.
“We are calling the state government at least to revisit the plan of disarming the civil population because when someone who is not trained on how to handle arms, they can easily fight and they can easily attack each other,” Laat stressed.