In the video widely circulating on social media, armed youth shooting at cattle claimed to be from Kajo-keji County of the country’s Central Equatoria state and that they were killing the cattle in revenge for the killing of a local chief killed earlier this month by armed men believed to be from Jonglei State’s Bor.
But in a statement extended to Sudans, Phanuel Dumo Jame Lokajasuk, the commissioner of Kajo-keji, said the incident did not take place in his county and said that the video was deliberately shot to tarnish the image of Kajo-keji community by people he didn’t name.
“The attention of authorities of Kajo-keji County have been brought to a video circulating on social media as released on 23 January 2023. The purported video and other media sources depict shooting of cattle and claims to have been carried out in Kajo-keji according to the audio at the background within the corridors of Kajo-keji,” he said.
“The leadership of the county under Hon. Commissioner would like to clarify to the people of South Sudan and the general public that the said video is false, unfounded and maliciously released to tarnish the image of Kajo-keji and its people,” he added.
He further called on concerned authorities in the capital Juba to investigate the video and condemned the use of the video for what he calls a “creation of bad image for the peace-loving” people Kajo-keji County.
“I therefore want to categorically DISOWN and CONDEMN it in the strongest terms possible,” he concluded.