Wüstenschiff

The administration of the University of Juba has closed the higher learning institution as inter-communal violence spread from the campus to surrounding areas on Wednesday [...] Violence erupted on Tuesday between students from Greater Equatoria region and those from the Dinka community ...

Sudan’s army (SPLA) announced on Monday that civilians will be arrested if they are found to carrying weapons after 30 April. Those who attempt to escape disarmament or run away from the SPLA will be met with non-lethal force, the commander of the Jonglei disarmament campaign, Kuol Dim Kuol, said on Monday.

A self-proclaimed “prophet from God” in Jonglei state is thought to be having vast influence among local people, according to local officials. Dak Kueth, a Lou-Nuer spiritual leader known locally as a “magician”, has armed youths who are acting as his bodyguards and receives cattle looted from neighbouring tribes, according to ex-abductees. Kueth is unlike the "spear masters" of other states who use spears in their spiritual practises. Kuol Deim Kuol, the commander in charge of Operation Restore Peace explained that Kueth in Uror county is the only influential person in the state opposing the disarmament. Kuol alleged that Kueth has instructed his followers to refuse to hand over their arms [...] Kueth the magician is well equipped, and owns a satellite phone.

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir witnessed the signing of peace deal by representatives of Jonglei States six ethnic communities on Saturday in Bor as chiefs expressed reservations over lack of punishment for those accused on child abduction and cattle raiders.

Three people have been killed and three others injured in attacks allegedly conducted by Murle tribesmen in Jonglei, local officials say, days after a "comprehensive peace deal" was signed between the state’s communities. On Thursday 10 May a car belonging to the South Sudan Ministry of Roads and Bridges was traveling from Juba to Jonglei when its was attacked near Panwell village of Bangachorot. Two policemen were wounded and the driver was killed, according to Jonglei police.

In Twic East two people were killed and one person was injured on Wednesday 9 May when attackers, again assumed to be members of the Murle tribe, captured 32 heads of cattle, according to Dau Akoy, the county commissioner. South Sudan’s army (SPLA) later rescued the cows, Akoy said [...] the attack was launched on a group of traders from Bor, Twic and Duk counties. The cattle were returned by the SPLA after “exchanging gunfire with the criminals,” he said.

People in Jonglei remote areas say that there is relative peace in the state as cases of child abduction and cattle raiding significantly decreased in recent months giving them the chances to tilt their land and move quite freely different areas. However, despite the improvements in security many challenges remain.

A top police officer in South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria State was gunned down on Saturday by unknown assailants, less than 20km away from Juba, the country’s capital. Major Gen. Malok Riing, who served as the state Police Commissioner was reportedly killed on his way to Torit, the Eastern Equatoria state capital after an official trip in Juba. Louis Lobong Lojore, the state Governor confirmed the incident in an interview with Sudan Radio Service (SRS), adding that it was only the driver who survived the ambush.

The United Nations said residents of the country's Jonglei region reported police attacked women earlier this month during a push to collect weapons from the area's fighting Lou Nuer and Murle tribes. The announcement came after a group of aid and rights groups, including U.S.-based PACT, issued a report accusing the army and state police of beatings, harassment, killings, torture and sexual assault of civilians during the disarmament campaign.

At least nine people were killed and several others are missing or wounded in an attack on boats in Akobo county, Jonglei state, on Thursday. Among the dead are four South Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers who were killed when armed criminals ambushed boats on the Sobat River. Five of the attackers were also killed [...] the attackers were armed youths loyal to the self-proclaimed prophet of the Lou Nuer, Dak Kueth who left the Uror area when the government-backed disarmament programme began in March [...] Residents of Akobo confirmed to Sudan Tribune that one of the boats was captured and taken to Ethiopia by the attackers. Another boat floated downstream to Makak in Nassir county of Upper Nile state where the corpses on-board were retrieved and buried. Jooyul said the majority of the attackers were from the Nuer ethnic group but were joined by Ethiopian disciples of Kueth.

South Sudan’s army says a spiritual leader who fled disarmament in Jonglei state to neighbouring Ethiopia has been captured along with 200 others today [...] the spiritual leader was “a factor of insecurity” in the state. The self-proclaimed spiritual leader, Dak Kueth, fled to Ethiopia in March when the civil disarmament commenced in the state, according to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). Kueth was heading armed youths from Lou Nuer areas in northern Jonglei state and allegedly recruited some followers in Ethiopia, He was captured by Ethiopian army while escaping SPLA ambush on South Sudan’s border on Tuesday.

At least 16 people are reported to have been killed and several injured in a conflict between two ethnic groups in Cueibet county of South Sudan’s Lakes state on Saturday, local officials and state authorities said on Sunday. An anonymous medical professional said several of the victims are in a critical condition in Rumbek Civil Hospital. He said all the injuries were inflicted by firearms [...] dispute between two factions of the Gok ethnic group in which people continue to be killed in revenge attacks.

Hundreds of heads of cattle were reportedly looted from Koscar village of Pibor County on Saturday August 11, according to the Bor County commissioner, who said he had ordered both the army and the police to follow the criminals who escaped with the cattle. Commissioner Lual, who condemned the act, said his office received the report on Sunday from his colleagues in Pibor County, adding that the raiders clashed with the South Sudanese army (SPLA) near Anyidi Payam of Bor County, three kilometres away from the town, leaving two raiders with injuries and eight cattle dead.

Rebels in South Sudan's Jonglei state have killed at least 24 soldiers, with several others missing or wounded, in the latest outbreak of violence in the troubled region, officials said Sunday. The attack took place Thursday in the Pibor region of Jonglei after soldiers were sent to investigate sightings of rebel leader David Yau Yau, who split from South Sudan's army (SPLA) in April. "There were 24 reported killed from the SPLA and 12 wounded, and there are about 17 missing," Jonglei governor Kuol Manyang told AFP, adding that it had taken time for the survivors to trek out from the remote area to report it. "It was a small force that was sent to confirm that David Yau Yau was in the area... and then they were attacked by men in uniform joined by some armed civilians," Manyang said. He suspected the civilians were made up of youths from the ethnic Murle group that live in Pibor County and to which Yau Yau belongs, and where he has reportedly been recruiting young people in recent weeks.

South Sudan authorities have confirmed new clashes between SPLA forces and a rebel group led by David Yauyau in Thodo about 60 kilometres from Lekuangole payam of Pibor county. Jonglei state governor has left this morning for Lekuangole Payam in Pibor where the attack took place. Speaking to Sudan Tribune from Pibor, the commissioner of Pibor county Joshua Konyi Irer said the SPLA soldiers clashed with the rebel militia on 22 August and the number of "casualties is not yet confirmed up to now".

A member of David Yau Yau’s militia which took part in an attack on Jonglei on 22 August said on Monday that the group called upon civilians to evacuate the area prior to the attack. John Rew told Sudan Tribune, “we called on our civilians to cooperate with us and peacefully leave their villages and towns.” He also claimed “our forces are advancing toward Pibor. It is just a matter of hours and you will hear new developments.”

Unknown raiders attacked Tuochdol village in Payinjiar county, Unity state on Sunday, leaving four dead, five seriously injured and taking with them 400 cattle, according to state authorities. Confirming the attack, area commissioner Peter Gai Joak, told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday that the raiders are suspected to have come from neighbouring Lake State. He added that it was the first time they had experienced such violence for the last six months as their had been peace between Rumbek East and Rumbek north counties.