A village in Uror County | Credit | Sight Savers

Three people have reportedly been killed and two others wounded in a cattle-related incident in Uror County of Jonglei state.

“On February 15, criminals attacked the area of Pajimar in Pagew at 4 pm,” said Moses Majok Gatluak, former governor of the defunct Bieh State and a member of the high-level peace committee for Jonglei state.

He blames criminals from the neighboring Pibor Administrative area for the attack. But this has not been independently verified by Eye Radio. Pibor authorities have yet to respond to the allegations.

But Mr. Majok said the situation is still tense. “They took more than 3,000 heads of cattle… I wrote a report about this.”

He described the attackers as “cattle raiding criminals and children kidnappers” who “are also killing people on the roads and burning houses.”

“We must stop it.”

The Diocesan Bishop of greater Akobo, John Jok Chol is appealing to the youth in the area to keep away from revenge.

He calls on the authorities in Pibor to ensure the raided cattle are returned and those killed are compensated to avoid jeopardizing the recent Jonglei – Greater Pibor peace conference.

“My message to the youth in Pajimar is that retaliation does not build anything but destroys whatever we have. They must stop revenging, revenge is meaningless.”

Communities of the Greater Jonglei Area agreed last month to bury their differences and embrace peace.

In the three-day peace conference in Juba, they also agreed to compensate those killed or injured during the vicious cycles of violence.

“My appeal is that if these are criminals…those cattle should be returned and the three people should be compensated as a good gesture so that peace will return between Jonglei and Pibor Administrative area,” Bishop Jok added.

Among other things; the establishment of local courts to handle cattle-related cases, empowering security forces to execute their duties, carrying out disarmament exercises, establishing buffer zones to separate the warring communities, and construction of roads and deploying forces along the roads were agreed.