JUBA – Members of the Transitional Legislative Assembly (TNLA) representing the Greater Pibor Administrative Area have rejected claims that Murle armed youth were responsible for the killing of a Kapoeta East County commissioner, Stephen Lowosio Lomongin, in Kassengor, arguing that the incident has been wrongly attributed to the Murle community.
Speaking to journalists at a press conference on Tuesday in Juba, Lawryen Ibon, chairperson of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area Caucus in the National Legislative Assembly, stated that the violence that claimed the life of Kapoeta East County Commissioner Stephen Lowosio Lomongin stemmed from clashes between the Toposa and Jie communities in Kassengor Payam.
“Those residing in Kassengor Payam are from the Jie community, not Murle, as reported by authorities in Eastern Equatoria State. The Jie are part of the broader Toposa community,” he said.
He added: “They came during the war, and our government is aware that these people had conflict. They were brought to Boma in the 1990s and have remained in our area to this day.”
Ibon clarified that Kassengor is inhabited by members of the Jie community and not the Murle.
“Those residing in Kassengor Payam are from the Jie community. When the fighting started, some reports claimed it was between the Murle and Toposa communities, but this is not true. The people living there are Jie, including the Payam administrator,” he said.
For her part, Bangut Amum, a member of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area Caucus in the National Legislative Assembly, denied the reports linking the attack to Murle armed groups.
“I will correct the statement which was given first, that the commissioner of Kapoeta East was ambushed by Murle. And that area is totally under Jie, and there is no resident of Murle in that area,” Amum said.
Amum said the commissioner was killed by residents of Kassengor after he allegedly entered the town firing shots.
According to her, the commissioner’s visit came shortly after a visit by Gola Boyoi Gola, Chief Administrator of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area, and David Yau Yau, Deputy Minister of Information.
“So, correction, it is a visit of the commissioner to Kassengor. And that statement from that Payam demonstrator is indicating that there were people moving with him, and they went down, and they were shooting.”
