At least five people were killed in two separate attacks at the outskirts of Jonglei State capital, Bor Town, over the weekend, local government officials and police said, prompting civil society to warn of a deteriorating security situation in parts of the state.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, Daniel Deng Panchol, caretaker commissioner of Bor County, said the first incident involved passenger vehicles heading for Bor Town while the second incident was an attack on a farm.
“In the evening of 17 October around 6:40 P.M., four vehicles loaded with dry fish and carrying passengers from Twic East County to Bor were attacked at Ajalou junction of Jalle Payam,” he said. “Four people – a driver from Bahr el Ghazal, a man from Ayod, and two men from Bor and a 9-month-old baby were killed. The mother of the infant was wounded, alongside four others.”
“In the second incident on Sunday morning in Akollo village in Anyidi Payam, locals who had gone to farm were attacked, resulting in the killing of a local wrestler called Nhial Kawaja,” Commissioner Deng added.
He said they were appalled by the attacks and condemned them as barbaric.
“We are for peace, and we are being disturbed. Recently, we convinced our youth not to retaliate because we are for peace as we wait for elections,” Deng said. “We condemn these attacks from our eastern neighbors.”
The state police spokesperson, Major Akech Mapiou, confirmed the attacks and said insecurity was now rampant.
“On Saturday evening vehicles were attacked while travelling to Bor from Twic East. Five people were killed, and we collected their bodies for burial. The injured were taken to Bor and Juba for treatment,” he reported. “Insecurity has been common in that area, but we only patrol. We cannot establish a permanent presence because of insecurity. Separately, there was an attack in Anyidi resulting in one death, and there was another attack in Kolnyang on Sunday.”
Meanwhile, Bol Deng Bol, head of Jonglei Civil Society Network and chairman of the National Civil Society Coalition, decried the deteriorating insecurity across the state and reiterated calls for the caretaker government intervention.
“Insecurity is common across the state. It is concerning everybody, and as a civil society, we are pushing the caretaker government to resolve inter-communal violence and widespread insecurity,” he said. “And we appeal that diplomacy and dialogue be used to address these problems.”
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