Rival tribal leaders clash during meeting with security chiefs in Nimule

JUBA – Community leaders representing the parties who were recently involved in deadly fighting in Eastern Equatoria state’s Magwi County earlier this month this morning quarreled before the visits by South Sudan army chief and the director-general of the internal security bureau at the national security services.

Eye witnesses who wish to remain anonymous told Sudans Post that leaders representing associations of the rival communities blamed each other for the deterioration of security situation in Eastern and Central Equatoria states while meeting the security chiefs.

“At all, there is no sign that this violence in Eastern Equatoria – I mean this cattle violence and maybe in most part of Equatoria region very soon – will be ended even with the participation of the national security organs who were dispatched from Juba this morning to Nimule to meet the community,” the eyewitness said.

“While they were meeting, the community leaders representing the cattle keepers blamed each other on who brought the violence to this part of the country and the cattle keepers insist that the violence is inflicted on them to justify their departure from the Equatoria region,” he said.

The eyewitness added that the community leaders representing cattle keepers said they have “the inalienable right to live anywhere they want including in Magwi including anywhere in Eastern Equatoria state or in the whole of the Equatoria region.”

Meanwhile one of the community leaders of the host community allegedly said that “we are not against any respectful South Sudanese citizen coming to our land to live peacefully with us, but we will not accept anyone exporting violence from other parts of the country to this area.”