2 dead as heavily armed Kenyan criminals attack South Sudan border town

JUBA – At least two people, including a 12-year-old, have been killed when armed criminals from neighboring Kenya attacked South Sudan’s Nadapal, a border town near the Kenyan border, on Monday, according to local authorities.

Turkana raiders, local authorities say, on Monday attacked cattle camps in the Eastern Equatoria area in an attempt to steal thousands of cattle which the authorities said have been recovered when Toposa youth went on to pursue the Kenyan criminals.

Daniel Lokale, a youth in Kapoeta East told Radio Tamazuj Monday that the Turkana from Kenya came and attacked the Toposa Kraals in South Sudan and killed a 12-year-old boy and injured four other people. He said one of the injured people died today (Monday) at the Kapoeta Civil Hospital where the rest are receiving treatment.

The local youth accused the Kenyan government of carrying out the attacks.

“It is the (Kenyan) government because we have confirmed it is the Kenyan Police Reserves (KPR). You know, the issue of the border has developed a lot of problems and the Turkana are also campaigning,” Lokale explained. “Those MPs of Kenya are pushing for the border to be in Nakodok and that is why they are using the KPR but making excuses that it is the local people (Turkana). They target to chase people from Nadapal which is the border currently.”

The Kapoeta East County commissioner, Abdalla Lokeno, confirmed the incident and said the neighboring Turkana are using insecurity as means of activating a border conflict.

“They took but the Toposa returned all the cattle. They only took 17 cows which they ran with. This force attacked at 1 pm and around 5 pm, they were chased.” Commissioner Lokeno said. “These people do not listen to their leaders, they just come the way they want and they are instigating the issue of the border. I want all the Toposa to stop too much drinking of alcohol and be strong in protecting their cattle, they should keep the few ammunitions they have for their guns.”

Ngoya Yaba, a civil society activist in greater Kapoeta, expressed frustration with the national government’s failure to address the Nadapal border dispute.

“This is a national matter that we have always been raising with our governments at the state and national level. They have to speed up this issue by trying to finance the joint border committee which was formed by the president,” Yaba said. “It has to be financed to fulfill its duty. The mandate should also start with the demarcation of the border, once we identify the borders of the communities, there will be no conflict.”