By Manas James Okony<\/p>\n
An inter-communal conflict has erupted in Gumuruk County of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA), local authorities reported.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The clashes, which began on Friday evening and are continuing, involve local Murle youth engaging in violent confrontations with armed youth allegedly from the neighbouring Jonglei State.<\/p>\n According to GPAA Information Minister Jacob Werchum Jouk, the intensity of the fighting has escalated significantly.<\/p>\n \u201cGumuruk County was attacked on Friday at 4 PM. Armed youth from Uror, Ayod, and Duk, reportedly led by a spiritual figure named Tut Jok, have invaded the villages of Kibali and Nyalima in Manyabol Payam,\u201d Werchum stated.<\/p>\n He noted that youth from Murle are fiercely resisting the advancing attackers, who are heavily armed and had mobilized for days in parts of Jonglei State.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we speak, fighting is still ongoing. These attackers are trying to push further into our territory, but our youth are putting up a strong defense,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The minister expressed concerns over the ongoing violence, stating, \u201cFighting is raging, and we cannot currently ascertain the number of casualties. However, local residents have been displaced to other areas within the county.\u201d<\/p>\n In contrast, Nyamar Lony, the Jonglei State Information Minister, claimed unawareness of the ongoing conflict and distanced youth from any involvement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been in contact with our youth, and they are still in their respective counties. No youth has moved from Duk, Uror, or Ayod,\u201d she asserted.<\/p>\n Minister Nyamar emphasized her government\u2019s commitment to fostering peaceful coexistence.<\/p>\n \u201cEven after attacks by Pibor youth on Uror, we urged our youth not to retaliate, and they have remained calm. We are advocates of peace and will send a peace delegation next week to promote harmony,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n Civil society activist and executive director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Edmund Yakani, condemned the violence and called for government intervention.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a civil society organization, we condemn this ongoing fighting in Gumuruk County between youth from GPAA and Jonglei State. Reports on social media have indicated that youth were mobilizing in Jonglei to attack GPAA for some time, yet the government has remained silent,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n Yakani lamented the human toll of the violence, stating, \u201cIt is unfortunate that fighting has erupted and lives are being lost on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n He urged the government to take immediate action to de-escalate the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe call for the deployment of unified forces to create a buffer zone and mitigate tensions. It is the government’s responsibility to protect its citizens. If these assaults continue unchecked, we may witness gross human rights violations,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n The Greater Pibor Administrative Area, established amid ethnic and political conflicts in 2014, has a history of inter-communal violence, particularly involving the Murle community and their neighbors from Jonglei and Eastern Equatoria states.<\/p>\n The region has suffered from cycles of revenge attacks, cattle raiding, and retaliatory violence, often attributed to the longstanding rivalry with neighboring communities such as the Lou Nuer, Anyuak, Taposa, and Greater Bor Dinka. In recent years, tensions have intensified due to issues of access to resources such as water and pasture, compounding the dangers of armed confrontations among the youth. While government efforts at promoting peace through local and national dialogues have been initiated, the effectiveness of these measures often falters in the face of entrenched animosities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Manas James Okony An inter-communal conflict has erupted in Gumuruk County of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA), local authorities reported. The clashes, which began on Friday evening and are continuing, involve local Murle youth engaging in violent confrontations with armed youth allegedly from the neighbouring Jonglei State. According[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":31717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Courtesy-photo-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31716"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31718,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31716\/revisions\/31718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe socio-political landscape of South Sudan is characterized by deeply rooted ethnic divisions, exacerbated by economic scarcity and historical grievances stemming from decades of civil war.<\/p>\n