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| Raid kills more than 100 in S. Sudan: officials | ||
| 2009-09-22 | ||
| [Al Arabiya Latest] More than 100 people were killed when tribesmen raided a south Sudan village, burning buildings and attacking churchgoers, officials said on Monday, in a further escalation of violence in the oil-producing region. A surge of tribal killings this year has sparked fears for the stability of Sudan's underdeveloped south, still emerging from two decades of civil war. Fighters from the Lou Nuer tribe attacked the village of Duk Padiet, home to a rival Dinka group, on Sunday morning while many of the villagers were in church, officials told Reuters.
A total of 51 villagers and 28 southern soldiers, national security and police officers guarding the settlement were killed, said southern army spokesman Kuol Diem Kuol. "From the attackers 23 bodies were found on the ground. These attackers were found in uniform with arms and organized in a military organization in platoons with G3 rifles," he said. More than 2,000 people have died and 250,000 been displaced in inter-tribal violence across southern Sudan since January, according to the United Nations, which says the rate of violent deaths now surpasses that in Sudan's war-torn western region of Darfur. Clashes between rival ethnic groups in southern Sudan erupt frequently -- often sparked by cattle rustling and disputes over natural resources, while others are in retaliation for previous attacks. Members of the Lou Nuer tribe this month denied their fighters had joined militias, telling Reuters most of the recent raids were revenge attacks for past cattle rustling. "It is just cattle raiding ... It's just revenge," said William Khor Reath, executive director for Akobo County, a mostly Lou Nuer area in Jonglei state.
Traditional disputes have been exacerbated by a ready supply of guns left over from the civil war. Some of the fiercest fighting has been in Jonglei, parts of which are included in a largely unexplored oil concession operated by France's Total. Southern politicians have accused their former civil war foes from north Sudan of arming rival tribes to destabilize the region in the build-up to elections in 2010 and a referendum on southern secession in 2011. Khartoum denies the accusation. | ||
| Posted by:Fred |