Aweil town residents decry police brutality

KUOM – Residents of Kuom payam in Aweil Town of Northern Bahr el Ghazal state have urged police to exercise fairness during evictions.

The call followed skirmishes between residents and police on Friday.

Adut Deng (not real name) said she had gone to a nearby borehole to fetch water, but withdrew on seeing vehicles full of police officers.

She said police presence in the area took residents by surprise.

“I ran back to my house when the forces became too harsh. They just came, started telling people to move and when asked for a reason, they said the court has directed them to evict residents,” she said.

Deng said tempers flared when police told residents to leave the land.

According to Deng, the said land is being contested by two people.

“Some young men sustained injuries during the skirmishes and it became a major scuffle among residents and police,” she explained.

The state police spokesperson, Guot Guot Akol said they lawfully acted.

“The high court in Aweil Town on 21 February gave a jurisdiction/verdict to evict residents of Kuom from a site there and on 22 Feb. The police were given a directive to implement a verdict so we were told to go on 1^st March so the police were complying with the directives of the court so the forces went for eviction,” he said.

Guot, however, said residents resisted the police prompting clashes.

“Whenever there are clashes, there are always injuries sustained and are now taking medication in the hospital. I don’t have the number. People were many and no statistics were obtained,” he stated.

It, however, remains unclear how the land matter will be resolved.