Two people killed, 3,000 cattle raided in Eastern Equatoria State
By Michael Tapeng
At least two people were killed on Thursday in Obira Boma in a cattle raid carried out by suspected youths from Boya, the authorities said.
Speaking to Juba Echo, Tito Abbas Lomoro Ohide, the Executive Director of Chahari Payam said the two men were killed and an estimated 3,000 cattle raided from Obira.”Today around 10:00am, some raiders came from that side of Kimotong and raided 3 kraals of cattle from Obira and killed two people, the youths are pursuing the raiders, I came to attend the chiefs conference and the Executive Directors conference and I received a call from the boma chief this morning that the animals were just raided by suspected Boya,” he said.
Tito Abbas appealed to the state authorities to ensure the return of the raided cattle.”The message to the youths is that we have just signed some resolutions recently that these criminal acts should end. We still follow the document that has been signed by the joint border peace committee that any animals raided during this time must be returned, the government should follow and return them to their rightful owners. This has been documented, now I am just appealing to the higher authorities to implement what we have done and if they are able to dialogue with the two communities so that the cattle can be returned,” added Abbas
The Minister for Local Government in Eastern Equatoria State Peter Lokeng says the state authorities need to go on the ground as a government in order to get exactly the facts from the two communities.
“We will find out what the problem was that led the two communities to fight, they have been living in harmony. So it is the government now to work hard in order to bring them back to a normal situation. We have contacted some leaders from that side of Boya and we asked them what happened but they said they are doing a revenge for their boy who went to Obira and never returned.
Peter Lokeng said that the positive thing is that both sides are ready to dialogue.
