More than 230 killed in new intercommunal clashes in South Sudan

Authorities in South Sudan have raised to more than 230 the death toll in inter-communal clashes last week in the state of Eastern Equatoria (southeast), an incident allegedly related to cattle rustling.

Kapoeta North county commissioner Emmanuel Epone Lolimo has highlighted that 235 people have so far been confirmed dead, a figure far higher than the 70 reported last week following an attack on a cattle area in this part of the African country.

Local authorities have blamed the attack on a coalition of armed people arriving from Budi, Lafon and Gran Píbor, while Lolimo has lamented that “it is already 16 years in conflict.”

“In this incident, the death toll has risen to 235, which is not good. We do not celebrate the death, but we accuse them for coming to attack us,” Lolimo said, as reported by the South Sudanese radio station Eye Radio.

For his part, the ‘number two’ of the Greater Pybor Administrative Area, John Abula, has confirmed that some youths from this area were involved in the attack and said that “cattle raids always involve the loss of lives”.

Abula said that the authorities have organized a conference to try to sensitize residents in the area to try to stop this type of attack, which has been on the rise in recent months in several areas of the African country.

Inter-communal clashes in South Sudan are often motivated by cattle rustling and disputes between herders and farmers in the most fertile areas of the country, especially due to increased desertification and population displacement.