South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The Governor of Central Equatoria State, Augustino Jadalla Kamilo Wani, has sounded a warning to land grabbers eyeing plots of lands at Muluburr village, east of Jebel Lado Payam of Juba County.
Addressing his press unit on Sunday, following his visit to Muluburr area, Jadalla ordered stoppage of illegal demarcation of the area.
Jadalla issued the directives after witnessing atrocities perpetuated by land grabbers which instilled fears among the indigenous.
He said the state government will not tolerate acts of illegal land acquisition and will deal with grabbers firmly.
“Nobody should take the law into his or her hands,” Governor Jadalla told the affected locals of Muluburr on Saturday.
He clarified to the civilians that those who carried out the heinous act at Muluburr area including illegal demarcation of the lands are not government officials but individuals land grabbers.
For his part, Charles Lako, Executive Chief of Jebel Lado Payam, said the illegal demarcation of the land that has been ongoing in the area for the last few days has resulted in unrest.
“There have been threats by the land grabbers, beatings, shooting and chaos all over in the area. As you can see these are all pegs fixed by the grabbers,” Lako said.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Angelo, an employee of Jebel Lado Payam claimed that those involved in illegal land acquisition are soldiers.
“Most of the people involved in the land grabbing are brought in military vehicles, and dressed in military attires but when they start demarcating the land they change their military uniforms and dress in civilian clothes,” Angelo said.
Land conflicts in Central Equatoria, especially in Juba city, have been going on for several years since the establishment of the government of South Sudan in 2005.
Members of the host community, the Bari, have been accusing inhabitants from other states of grabbing their land.
They also accused them of not following the legal procedures of acquiring land through the Central Equatoria state’s ministry of physical infrastructure.
