Lou Nuer condemn Jonglei attack, but criticized the misleading reports

Lou-Nuer condemn Jonglei attack, criticize misleading reports

Monday 28 September 2009.

September 27, 2009 (JUBA) — The Lou-Nuer community in Juba has condemned the recent attack by its members against Dinka community of Duk Padiet in Jonglei state. They also described reports on the attack as misleading.
The attack which took place on 20th September left over 160 people dead and wounded more than 80 others on both sides.
The community however accused the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) and the Jonglei state government of siding with the Dinka ethnic group in the incidence.

In a meeting that was open to the press which was organized on Sunday by the Lou-Nuer Community Council and was attended by over two thousand participants including intellectuals, elders and youth members, the community refuted any statement describing the armed civilians as militias in the state.

In a statement to the press the Community’s Chairperson, Gabriel Yoal Dok said the allegation was reported to the government by "those with the intention of misleading the government to wage war against the community."
Dok, who is a member of the National Assembly, explained that the attack was unfortunately carried out by angry armed civilians who decided to take the law into their own hands as a result of their unresolved grievances that accumulated since 2006.
The community called for relocation of the state capital outside of Bor County, accusing the Bor community of acting as if the town exclusively belonged to their community.

He accused in particular the governor of Jonglei state, Kuol Manyang Juuk and the former governor, Philip Thon Leek, of allegedly promoting inter-community conflicts and failing to address the grievances.
They also accused the minister for Internal Affairs, Gier Chuang Aluong and the Head of the National Security for the Southern Sector, Majak Agot of allegedly siding with the Dinka community.The community further explained their source of arms saying that its disarmed members since 2006 recently re-armed after the looting of arms in Khorfulus incidence and Malakal incidence between SPLA and SAF.

The meeting accused both the Government of Southern Sudan and the state government of favoring the minority Dinka-Bor community with the intention of creating for them a political space to dominate the state affairs at the expense of others.
The community claimed that both the GoSS and state authorities overreacted to the Duk Padiet incidence by mobilizing a combination of forces from the SPLA and other organized forces including the National Security to side with the Dinka community.
It alleged that these combination of forces exercised excessive use of force against the armed civilians including the use of heavy artilleries.

The meeting also explained that GoSS and state authorities had refused to take for medical care wounded Lou-Nuer armed civilians but airlifted to Juba for medical care the wounded members from the Dinka community and the organized forces.
The community also said that the authorities had been mobilizing additional forces including heavy artilleries from other army Divisions across the region towards the Lou-Nuer area with the intention of attacking the civilians.
Dok accused the National Security forces of involving in the attack on Lou-Nuer, arguing that it is not supposed to be a combat force to attack the civil population.

The community also accused the government of negligence by not acting to defend the Lou-Nuer when they were previously attacked by Dinka and Murle communities in the state.
The meeting explained on previous similar atrocities involving other communities in the region and questioned why the authorities had never come to their rescue or described their attackers as militias.

The meeting blamed the state government of failure to implement the previous resolutions passed during the state inter-community peace and reconciliation conferences since 2006 that were aimed to resolve the grievances earlier reported by the community.
The community argued that such unresolved grievances that included among others the repeating killings of their members between Duk-Uror and Bor-Uror counties, the stealing and failure to return thousands of their cattle and the blockage of roads by armed civilians from Duk and Bor counties resulted to the attack by those who decided to take the law into their own hands.
The community called for implementation of all the resolutions that would address their grievances and promote peaceful co-existence among the communities in the state.

The meeting accepted the disarmament of the civil population in the state but warned that such an exercise should not begin or be done only in Lou-Nuer community as occurred in 2006, which they said left the community vulnerable to the other armed neighbors.
Lou-Nuer community is one of several major Nuer clans and the largest single community in Jonglei state with a population of about half a million people according to the results of the disputed population census in 2008.
The community shares common borders with almost all the five tribes in the state as well as international border with Ethiopia.
It also shares common borders with some other Nuer major clans in Jonglei state such as Gaawar to the west and with the Jikany-Nuer clan of Upper Nile state to the north.

Following the incidence, the Government of Southern Sudan says it will instead continue with the disarmament exercise in other states in the region and has delayed disarming the civilians in Jonglei state until November this year.
The Lou-Nuer Community Council is also expected to come out with resolutions and recommendations.