AT LEAST 14 people have been killed and 10 others injured in tribal skirmishes in South Sudan’s Jonglei state, a local official said on Wednesday.
Simon Hoth Dual, Jonglei state minister for local government, said cattle raiders suspected to be from the neighbouring Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) attacked Pangonkuei cattle camp in Duk county of Jonglei state in the eastern part of the country.
On Tuesday, at around 11am, youth from the GPAA carried out a cattle raid in a cattle camp called Pangonkuei in Duk County, in Jonglei state and killed 14 people including 10 others wounded, Dual said on the phone.
He added that the local youth managed to recover more than 2 000 head of cattle after hours of fierce fighting and called on the youth to remain calm as the two authorities investigated the incident.
In 2020, President Salva Kiir constituted a high-level committee to probe and find a solution to the region prone to deadly cattle rustling incidents between the Nuer, Murle and Dinka tribes who often carry out retaliatory attacks against each other.
The Jonglei region bordering Ethiopia to the east has long been plagued by ethnic fighting over cattle grazing grounds and access to water.
Xinhua News Agency