Bor: 16 community leaders arrested after deadly clashes
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Radio Tamazuj
Authorities in Bor County, South Sudan, have arrested 16 community leaders after clashes between the Abang and Malual communities left nine people dead. A curfew and the deployment of security forces are intended to prevent further violence, acting commissioner Daniel Deng Panchol told Radio Tamazuj.
Authorities in Bor County, in South Sudan’s Jonglei State, have arrested 16 community leaders after clashes between the Abang and Malual communities left nine people dead on Tuesday evening. Daniel Deng Panchol, the county’s acting commissioner, told Radio Tamazuj on Thursday that the arrests targeted chiefs and youth and women’s representatives from both communities.
Eight leaders have been detained at Bor Central Prison, Daniel Deng Panchol said. The authorities accuse them of failing to intervene while violence was taking place under their responsibility, which, according to the commissioner, indicated their support for the fighting.
The deployment of security forces ended the clashes, but armed young people continue to move around the area. The authorities have banned gatherings and imposed a curfew from dawn to sunset. Kenya Mach, information secretary for the Jonglei State Women’s Association, welcomed the deployment and called on the government to secure a lasting resolution to the dispute.
Fighting resumed in the Malual-Chaat area, near the Juba-Bor road, after several weeks of tensions over the creation of an administrative unit by the previous government. The community clashes in Bor left nine people dead, according to figures published on 28 October. The renewed violence comes after an agreement to cease hostilities was reached between two Jonglei communities on 11 October.
