Chief administrator of GPAA accused of telling one-sided story on communal conflict

JUBA – The chief administrator of Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) Joshua Konyi has been accused by a Canada-based South Sudanese community leader of telling a one-sided story on the ethnic violence between communities in South Sudan’s Greater Jonglei state.

On May 26, Radio Tamazuj published an interview in which Konyi claimed that armed youth from Dinka Bor, Gawaar and Lou-Nuer made away with at least 44,962 head of cattle.

“They attacked around 1736 houses and looted nearly 44,962 head of cattle. They kidnapped 112 women and 84 children. 128 men and 28 women have been killed, 691 houses burned to ashes and 51 people wounded,” Konyi stated in the interview.

However, speaking in an interview with South Sudan News Now on Tuesday, Deng Elijah Hon Top, the chairman of the Canada-based Gawaar Global Community said the numbers given are misleading as the chief administrator was providing a one-sided story.

“….can we trust what he said?” Elijah asked of the claims. “It is well evidenced in most of his answers that he was selling only one side of the story and to make the matter even worse, the figures that he was quoting sound very exaggerated.”

Deng asked of the interview went on to address the claims.

“For example, if you refer to his statement where he claimed that ‘they attacked around 1736 houses and looted nearly 44,962 head of cattle,’ If you take your calculator and do the arithmetic [44,962/1,736] you will be made to believe that each house had a minimum of 25 cows on average.

“Obviously, this can’t be true, not only in Murle but in any other community across South Sudan. If Murle had so many cattle, then they would be the richest tribe in South Sudan and I doubt that is true.”

The community leader further said most leader sin South Sudan survive in the political arena by pleasing unfounded communal claims and false rhetoric against other to the point that false stories are defended and promoted by politicians to survive the hustle.

“Not only Hon. Joshua Konyi, every leader in South Sudan right now is bound to please his community and the leadership that put him to power even if it means lying,” he said.

“Konyi is surviving at the mercy of his people, it is the hand that feeds him and therefore, he cannot afford to bite it. Instead he is arming the youth under the table to fight other communities and that is the reality that is revealed by many independent reports,” he added.