14 killed, 7 wounded in Abyei

By Awan Achiek

Fourteen people have been killed and seven others wounded in two separate attacks by suspected Misseriya armed militias in Abyei according to the Chief Administrator of the Area.

Deputy Chief Administrator of Abyei, Kon Manyiet Mathiok said the two incidents that killed 14 civilians happened on 14 and 16 May in Areain Wunamedh, West of Abyei town and Dangoub East of the town.

“Abyei Administration and the entire people of Abyei condemn in the strongest terms possible these brutal, barbaric and cowardice attacks of killing innocent people in their residential areas,” Manyiet said in a press statement extended to Juba Echo.

He urged the UN peacekeeping force in Abyei to investigate and apprehend perpetrators behind brutal killings.

“We urge the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) to arrest all perpetrators who are involved in committing these atrocities against civilians and immediately bring them to book,” he said.

Abyei has been contested since South Sudan gained independence in 2011; there have been long tensions between South Sudanese Ngok Dinka communities and the Misseriya herders from Sudan who traverse the area looking for grazing land.

Decades of civil war between Sudan’s north and south ended with a 2005 peace deal.

The pact also required both sides to work out the final status of Abyei but the issue of the area remains unresolved.