20 killed in two cattle rustling attacks in northern South Sudan

March 23 (EUROPA PRESS) –

At least 20 people have been killed in two new attacks carried out in northern South Sudan by people seeking to steal cattle from another community, authorities have confirmed, detailing that the incidents took place on Monday and Tuesday.

The speaker of the Jonglei parliament, Wang Bum, has indicated in statements given to the South Sudanese station Eye Radio that 19 people died after an attack on Monday in Pathai Payam, while another three were killed and five were reported missing on Tuesday in the same zone.

“The attack took place in a bush area and we do not know where the disappeared are, if they were kidnapped or if they are still hiding,” he said, before indicating that the attacks would be cattle rustlers from the adjacent Pibor Administrative Area.

Despite the decrease in violence due to the political conflict, the country has registered an increase in inter-community confrontations, mainly motivated by the theft of cattle and disputes between herders and farmers in the most fertile areas of the country, especially due to the increase in desertification and displacement of populations.

South Sudan has a unity government that began after the materialization of the 2018 peace agreement between the president, Salva Kiir, and the rebel leader Riek Machar, which led to the latter returning to the position of first vice president from the African country.