By Bosco Bush
Central Equatoria State Governor, Gen. Augustino Jadalla and his counterparts; Governor, Mahjoub Biel of Jonglei State, and Chief Administrator, Gola Boyoi of Greater Pibor Administrative Area condemned the incident that led to the killing of at least 22 people in Mogiri.
The incident that happened on Wednesday morning between armed youth and cattle herders involved the usage of firearms such as PKMs, RPGs—leaving 22 people dead, from both sides and an unspecified number of cattle raided. Jadalla’s office reported.
It prompted the three leaders to visit Mogiri-Mangalla Payam to quell the situation in the area.
Upon arrival at the scene, the trio were informed by local authorities on the ground about the incident.
In a joint statement, the leaders condemned the incident and called for collective efforts to address the issue.
Governor Jadalla highlighted the need for both Jonglei and Pibor leaders to make necessary efforts in controlling their armed cattle herders’ communities so as to avoid causing violence within communities living in peace.
“I request from my two brothers, this issue we should not leave to continue like this because this is already a transfer of problems to some places that could be in peace. South Sudan needs peace, and peace cannot come with violence,” said Jadalla.
Jonglei governor Biel called for the disarmament of civilians noting that arms in the hands of civilians are a security threat and urged both youths from Jonglei and Pibor Administrative Area to cease raiding cattle and killing each other. He denounces the culture of revenge killings.
“We know there are firearms in the hands of civilians and this should be an issue. In Jonglei State, one of the problems is the presence of guns in the hands of civilians. The armed force of civilians exceeds government forces. As a country we need to look into this issue,” said Biel.
On his part, Gola Boyoi, the Chief Administrator of Pibor Administrative Area said the incident that occurred is unacceptable.
The Chief Administrator emphasized the need for the security forces in the area to protect civilians and cattle traders.
“As leaders, we need to work together to stop this issue so that it doesn’t happen again. This should be the last and all security forces should play their part to see that this issue doesn’t happen again because yesterday in the evening hours I got information that there were people who were been carried from Mangalla to Mogiri so that they come and raided cattle,” Gola said.