By Lodu William Odiya
The Commissioner of Kajo-Keji County of Central Equatoria State, Jackson Wani Mule has urged the National government to swiftly intervene and resolve its border issue with the neighbouring Uganda.
This comes after an alleged claim that Nyaiga-muda area of Kajo-Keji is one kilometre inside Uganda.
According to the Commissioner, the incident in Nyaiga-muda started two weeks ago, where the Ugandan People Defense Forces (UPDF) threatened and ordered them (state authorities) to withdraw from the area.
“We have a small detach in Nyaiga-muda, and they were ordering that detach to withdraw and they sent us to withdraw, claiming that the area of Nyaiga-muda is one kilometre inside Uganda, and that we need to withdraw away from there” he said.
Mule said after they resisted, soldiers from different sides of Uganda were send to double their detachment size.
“They realized that we are not withdrawing from the area because we know it is our area, then they now began organizing combat battle of monday ”he added.
Mule underlined that he had communicated and arranged for a meeting with the Resident district commissioner (RDC) of Yumbe District in order to resolve the matter.
He highlighted that it was not the first time for the border dispute between Uganda and South Sudan adding that Ugandan soldiers had that claim of always expanding into Kajo-Keji territory.
“They occupy our territory, and whenever they plan to get an area, they can just march in and deploy forces in, and then behind that they begin settling their citizens. This incident has been going on for long” he emphasized.
Mule further added that in June 2020 the Uganda soldiers attacked their forces and killed some south Sudanese soldiers at the same point.
Commissioner Mule called on the local population to remain calm as the situation is under settlement.
“I want the local people just to be calm and as we are addressing the situation of the government, now our national government is aware, and I think they will be communicating with the national government of Uganda” he underlined.
He reaffirmed government commitment to ensure that stability is restored in the area.