At least 3 killed in a cattle raid along Pibor-Juba road

At least three cattle traders were killed and several others wounded during a cattle raid along the Pibor ̶ Juba road on Thursday morning.

Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) officials say an unspecified number of people remain missing and more than 500 head of cattle were stolen. 

Eyewitness John Koju says the traders were moving about 21-hundred head of cattle to Juba to trade them for other goods ahead of the Christmas festival when they were attacked by a group of young people who Koju believes were from Bor Town. 

“These traders came this morning from Pibor and were heading to Juba to sell and buy their things here in Juba. When they reached Jabor this morning at six o’clock, they’re attacked on the road.” Koju said. 

“Their cattle were taken. Some were killed and the rest were scattered into the bush.” He added.

Jay Adingora, Information Minister for the Greater Pibor Administrative Area, says the traders had taken a shortcut through the desert to reach the Maggeri Cattle Market in Central Equatoria. But before they reached their destination, they were attacked in Jabor. 

“We’ve a market for cattle in Maggeri, near Juba, these traders had decided to use the route through the desert direct to that place, so on their way when they were almost to the market, in a place called Jabor in Kuburi Teman, they were ambushed and attacked by armed men who killed about three people and took all the cattle that they were carrying.” Adingora confirmed.

Authorities in Greater Pibor do not know the exact number of casualties since most of the cattle traders fled into the bushes during the attack. 

Adingora says Pibor authorities have dispatched the Greater Pibor Administrative Area Coordinator who is in Juba to investigate the incident. 

“Because that place is near Juba, we’ve sent our coordinator there from Juba to the scene so that he can see and find out by himself what happened and give us a full report after.” Adingora added.

Koju says he believes the attackers are members of Bor communities who live in the Mangalla IDP camps.  “the people who attacked the traders were brought by vehicles from Magalla, they live there in the camps in Magalla.” He said.

Yuot Alier Hok, the Commissioner of Bor County, denies any knowledge of the incident. 

 “There’s no other information about that, it’s not reported to me yet. So, I am not even aware of it.” Hok said.

However, Dau Akoi Jurkuch, the chairperson of the Mangalla IDP camp says the youth in the camp do not indulge in criminal activities.

“The incident that happened yesterday, actually is very far from us. It’s not our territory because Gor Jabor is between Jonglei Memorial Colleague and Maggiri. So we are very far from there.”

“Actually our youth were never involved in that activity. We’re very calm and even the soldiers and the army that are there can be eyewitnesses.” Jurkuch said.

The cattle market is located about 33 kilometers from the Mangalla payam where Bor communities affected by recent floods have been resettled. 

The featured image rights BBC News Website