A cattle keeper protects his herd with an AK-47 somewhere in South Sudan. Presence of arms in the hands of civilians is often said to be one of the reasons clashes recur among the pastoralist communities | Credit | bpnews.net

At least 9 people have been killed and 500 houses set ablaze in an inter-communal conflict at Tali in Central Equatoria state.

According to Zachariah Loku Elia, the Secretary-General of the defunct Terekeka State, the fighting was triggered by a disagreement after traditional wrestling at Golo cattle camp on Monday.

“Someone ran to cattle camp and started shooting randomly,” Loku told Eye Radio on Wednesday.

“He shot a 12-year-old girl and the following morning the relative of the late retaliated and killed 6 people. When these armed youth withdrew from the battlefield, they went to Mijiki village and set the entire village on fire where 500 houses were brunt and a small boy around 8 to 9 years was brunt in the house.”

He says many people have been displaced to neighboring villages.

“The fighting as stopped, we are now trying to engage the two sides to make the kind of traditional swearing so that they do not go back to fighting again,” Loku added.

Communal conflicts over land, livestock, and water are common in some regions across the country, mainly fueled by the presence of illegal arms in the hands of civilians.