January 16, 2013 (RUMBEK) - Inter-clan clashes reignited on Lakes State on Wednesday at cattle camp between Marial-bek and Ghun between sections of the Dinka ethnic group, according to local officials.
The cause of fighting was a dispute over the ownership of an area of grassland, known as Toch in the Dinka language, between the Amothnhom and Panyon clans. The clashes have left ten people dead, with 13 people sustaining gunshot wounds.
Lakes State’s Minister of Local Government, Law and Enforcement Agency, Benjamin Makuer Mabor, said South Sudanese police and military to separated the fighting clans.
“We have sent a good number of South Sudan Police Services (SSPS) and Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) forces into toch land of Marial-bek and Gun to control the situation” said Makuer.
The situation is now under control, he said, adding that all suspects ring leaders from both side of clashes will be captured. The groups involved in the conflict are increasing, the minister said.
“This fighting is no longer Panyon and Amothnhom clashes alone, it is Rup and Kuei clashes which had expand in this clashes” said Makuer.
In November last year Inter-communal violence has killed 12 people and wounded 23 in Rumbek Central County in Lakes State after fighting broke out on Tuesday in a cattle camp 34km north-east of the state capital, according to a local official.
Lakes State Minister for Local Government and Law Enforcement, Benjiman Makuer Mabor, told Sudan Tribune that the conflict is alleged to have begun when young men from the Panyon and Amothnhon communities of the Dinka ethnic group, exchanged verbal insults in November last year.
The violence three months ago killed 12 people and wounded 23 in Rumbek Central County in Lakes State after fighting broke out in a cattle camp 34km north-east of the state capital, Minister Benjiman Makuer Mabor, told Sudan Tribune at the time.
(ST)