Eastern Equatoria State Information Minister Elia John told Sudans Post that Lowosio was carrying out an official routine visit when the attack happened.
“The Commissioner of Kapote East was indeed going for his official routine tour to his area of operation, but unfortunately, on his way to one of the bomas called Kasengor, he was ambushed by the criminals who are radicalised by the recent visits of the leadership of Greater Pibora Administrative Area,” Elia said.
The minister confirmed that the commissioner did not survive the attack.
“We have lost our Commissioner,” he said.
Calling for calm, Elia urged residents not to take the law into their own hands and instead allow authorities to investigate the incident.
“We are calling upon our state peace-loving people to remain calm and allow the relevant institution to do the independent investigation to establish the motive behind the killing of a Commissioner in his own territory,” he said.
The killing of the commissioner comes days after a public exchange between Eastern Equatoria State and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) over the ownership of Kessengor, also known as Kater Payam.
Elia insisted that the area belongs to Eastern Equatoria and questioned GPAA’s recent activities there.
“Before last week, even all along these years, who has been in charge of this area? This area has been under Eastern Equatoria,” he said.
“It is not our intention. We don’t know actually what from the leadership of Pibor to encroach into Eastern Equatoria.”
The minister also dismissed reports that there had been fighting between the commissioner’s team and local armed groups.
“It is a lie, as we heard from the government of Pibor that there was a clash and intense fighting. I don’t know whom they were fighting with because our people were not going for a fight. They were going for a visit, a peaceful visit,” he said.
According to Elia, the team was not expecting violence.
“They were not prepared for any fighting. For that reason, there was no reason for them to respond because they didn’t expect it.”
He called on the national government to intervene and investigate the killing.
“We call upon the national government to come in and intervene because this is an issue now connecting the two different states. So it requires the intervention of the national government to come and conduct an investigation and to effectively resolve this issue,” he said.
When contacted for comment, GPAA Information Minister Jacob Werchum Juok said authorities were still gathering information from the ground.
“Currently, I have no full details about what happened on the ground in the contested area,” Jacob said.
“I have just talked to the Commissioner a few minutes ago. When he confirms to me, I will let you know because the area where alleged fighting occurred is very far.”
The latest incident comes amid escalating tensions over Kessengor. The dispute intensified after GPAA Chief Administrator Gola Boyoi Gola and Deputy Information Minister David Yau Yau visited the area last week.
Eastern Equatoria State protested the visit, while GPAA responded with a strongly worded statement insisting that Kessengor belongs to its territory.
“The Area’s Administration would like to state clearly that Kizingor (Kater) is indisputably and legally part of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area,” GPAA said.
The administration argued that the area falls under Jebel Boma County and cited historical boundary records to support its claim. GPAA also rejected suggestions linking it to the commissioner’s death, saying the official was attacked within Eastern Equatoria State and there was “no apparent link to GPAA.”
Editor’s Note: This story was edited from an initial version, which inaccurately identified the commissioner as Abdullah Angelo Lekeno. The management regrets any inconvenience this might have caused to our valued readers.
