By Jacob Onuha Nelson
The Eastern Equatoria State government has issued a strong rebuttal against reports claiming that Toposa youth in Kapoeta ordered people of other ethnicities to vacate the town.
Officials have labelled these claims as malicious, false, and intended to incite communal instability.
In an interview on Tuesday, Elia John Ahaji, the State Minister of Information and Communication in Eastern Equatoria State denied the allegations.
He statements follow online report that some Toposa youth were evicting traders whom they claimed to be from other states not EES.
He clarified that no such orders had been issued and that the reports circulating online were entirely baseless.
“We don’t have such information here,” Minister Ahaji stated. “Those are just pure fabricated news… pure lies with the intention to cause division and confusion among the people in the community”.
The Minister condemned the spread of this misinformation, emphasizing that its primary goal is to disrupt the unity of South Sudanese citizens.
While the Toposa are the dominant ethnic group in Greater Kapoeta, the region is also home to the Didinga and various other smaller ethnic communities.
Attempts to reach the mayor of Kapoeta for additional commentary were unsuccessful at the time of reporting.