Over 700 displaced by Leer violence, religious leader beaten and robbed

LEER – Local government authorities in Leer are saying that more than 700 people have been displaced from their homes in Leer county following fighting between the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) and the main armed opposition SPLA-IO.

The displaced include children and women who have fled to safety in Muom training center and swampy areas along the River Nile.

Leer County Executive Director (or deputy commissioner) Paul Kuong Yok said that the displaced are facing dire conditions, lacking food, medicine, and clean drinking water.

He appealed to humanitarian organizations for intervention to provide assistance to those affected by the violence.

“The residents of the village are around 1,000 and the people displaced are around 730 people,” he said. “They have fled to Muom training center and the swampy areas towards the Adok Port which is a bit safer and far from Leer.”

Among those displaced is Gabriel Kiir Tut Kok Kulang, a catechist who fled to Muom training center.

He told Sudans Post that he was assaulted by SSPDF officers who were retreating to Leer following the fighting.

Kulang said his belongings, including his phone and bible, were robbed by the officers, who threatened him with violence.

“They came running from where they went to attack their enemies but when they came back being defeated, they came to me and they hit me in the head with a wood and they took my phone and threatened that I will be considered a rebel,” Kulang said.

“Now I am in Muom training center waiting for the situation to be calm then I will return. I am not a rebel as they said, I am a Church catechist and I don’t have any association with the soldiers who are fighting against each other,” he added.

Another displaced person who also fled to Muom said on condition of anonymity that his house was among those burned to ashes in Dhorgoyna, which was attacked by another force coming from the direction of Mayendit County.

The fighting in Leer is the latest in a series of clashes that have plagued South Sudan since the country’s civil war erupted in 2013.

The conflict has displaced millions of people and left many more in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.