South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
The deadly attack on civilians in Abyei Administrative Area has not only left about 36 civilians killed, but it has also brought up claims that some of the attackers from Ajak-Kuach area of Twic County were clad in South Sudan People’s Defense Forces uniforms.
This could suggest that some rogue soldiers and commanders aided the butchering of civilians in their homes in Abyei.
The two communities have been contesting for years the ownership of a strip of land in the Aneet border area, which separates the two communities.
The national government even set up a committee to look into the dispute and suggest resolutions, but the violence continues to flare up unabated.
How many civilians will we lose in order to end these senseless killings over boundaries?
The violence also claimed a life of a peacekeeper with the United Nations Interim Force for Abyei and also left another critically injured.
The usual communal violence cannot be blamed entirely on civilians, but politicians and military officers have been complicit in this violence over the past years.
The national government should not hide it’s head in the sand.
Juba should instead expeditiously address the root cause of the intermittent conflict, because the Sunday attack could be seen as retribution for last week’s violence in Twic County that left about 34 killed.
