Two killed, three wounded in latest Lakes State clashes

JUBA – Authorities in South Sudan’s Lakes State reported that two people were killed and three others wounded in clashes between two sub-clans of Cueibet County.

Lakes State police spokesman Major Elijah Mabor Makuac said the violence erupted on Sunday between the Pagok and Padol clans in Pagoor Payam.

He explained that individuals from a third clan, the Awan, intervened to separate the fighting parties but were fired upon, resulting in the fatalities.

“They killed two people, and three others,” Makuac said. “This incident happened on Sunday, and the wounded were evacuated to Cueibet county hospital for treatment.”

Daniel Laat Kon, head of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) office in Lakes State, attributed the resurgence of violence to the proliferation of firearms among civilians.

“These are related fights that have been occurring and this is not the first time now. You know, these are related fighting that has been occurring and this is not the first time now,” he said.

“You know since the last past months, there have been isolated incidents of fighting here and there, in Rumbek center, Cueibet, and even in part of Rumbek East county there has been some fighting,” he added.

Kon argued that previous disarmament efforts had led to a period of relative stability and called for renewed government action to remove weapons from civilian hands.

“We have been carrying out disarmament in Lakes State and other parts of Lakes State, not all Lakes State and the arms still returned into the hands of civilians. By the time you see the arms have been removed you see there is that stability in that particular time and this shows that if there are no arms in the hands of civilians than there will be no stability,” he said.

“We are calling the state government at least to revisit the plan of disarming the civil population because when someone who is not trained on how to handle and carry arms, they can easily fight and they can easily attack each other,” he added.

Kon emphasized that the lack of proper training in handling firearms contributes to the violence and urged disarmament as the only solution to the ongoing isolated incidences in Lakes State.