Tension builds in Bor, new attacks feared in Jonglei Article Comments (25) Email PrintSave --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 14, 2011 (BOR) - Tension has built up in Jonglei’s capital of Bor in South Sudan after the Bor County Commissioner, called on all young men to go to their villages to protect people as rumors of attacks from Pibor county reached the commissioner. Commissioner Maker Lual Kuol said that he had heard rumours that members of the Murle tribe, based in Pibor county, were planning new attacks in the next few days. The warning follows attacks by the Murle in August - itself a response to cattle raids from the Luo-Nuer ethnic group - that killed over 600 people and displaced thousands according to local officials. Bor’s commissioner told Sudan Tribune on Thursday: “There are some people mobilised to come and attack the area. And of course we have to belief it”. He said he did not want his people to be caught unaware. “We have no any other way to inform them unless through announcement by using microphone”, he continued. Infrastructure in newly independent South Sudan is extremely bad. Lual said he did not know how far the suspected attackers were into Bor county or how many there were. In August’s attacks houses and offices of aid organisations were burnt and thousands of cattle stolen. On Tuesday 13 September, a group of unknown gunman suspected to be Murle raided cattle in Panwell village, about 40 miles away from Bor town along the Juba-Bor road. Lual Tiar Gai and Dictor Ayuen Athuor were injured when they tried to rescue the cattle and managed to get to Bor Civil Hospital on Wednesday 14 September. Lual Tiar Gai, the well-known wrestler, suffered from a fractured hand. According to Ayuen, it was when they returned after failing to reach the raiders that they fell into an ambush by another Murle group Speaking to Sudan Tribune by phone from Pan-pitia cattle camp near the border of Central Equatoria and Jonglei state, camp leader Malual Machar said his camp is under threat of raiders. Machar said his camp had lost 37 calves to raiders on Tuesday, 13 saying his herders had been meeting strange people at the grazing fields, who they suspected of spying on the cattle. The camp leaders of Pan-pitia and Pan-Muodi camps asked Bor county commissioner and the state government to provide them with police to help protect their cattle in case of any attack. In a separate interview with the Anyidi MP Thon Nyok said they had been receiving phone calls from Juba, Pibor and Khartoum since 12 September that an unknown number of Murle were moving towards Bor. Nyok called up on the national government to protect its citizens. After August’s raid the UN and South Sudan army (SPLA) deployed extra troops to the area. In a meeting conducted by a Bor county youth association under the interim chairmanship of Thon Ayuen, the group called up on the Jonglei state and national government to intervene to present any possible attack. He said that at this time of year some farmers were harvesting their crops and were very vulnerable in remote locations. The youth group also asked their colleagues at the cattle camps and villages to stay alert. (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
