July 12 (EUROPA PRESS) –
South Sudanese authorities have raised the death toll to more than 230 in inter-community clashes last week in the state of Eastern Equatoria (southeast), an incident allegedly related to cattle rustling.
The North Kapoeta County Commissioner, Emmanuel Epone Lolimo, has highlighted that so far the death of 235 people has been confirmed, a figure much higher than the 70 reported last week after an attack against a winning area in this area of the African country.
Local authorities have accused a coalition of armed people from Budi, Lafon and Gran Píbor of the attack, while Lolimo has lamented that “there are already 16 years in conflict”.
“In this incident, the death toll has risen to 235, which is not good. We do not celebrate the death, but we accuse them of coming to attack us,” Lolimo said, South Sudanese broadcaster Eye Radio reported.
For his part, the ‘number two’ of the Greater Píbor Administrative Area, John Abula, has confirmed that some young people from this area were involved in the attack and has said that “assaults for theft of cattle always involve the loss of lives “.
Abula has stated that the authorities have organized a conference to try to sensitize residents in the area to try to put an end to this type of attack, which has been on the rise in recent months in several areas of the African country.
Inter-community clashes in South Sudan are often motivated by cattle rustling and disputes between herders and farmers in the more fertile areas of the country, especially due to increasing desertification and population displacement.
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