TRIBAL CLASHES: S. Sudan Refugees Die In Fight Over Fresh Maize

By Francis Otucu

Reports coming in from Obongi district indicate that fresh tribal clashes have erupted between Nuer and Kuku tribes of South Sudan currently settled at Polaringa Refugee Settlement Camp.

The Wednesday fight that claimed lives of three started over fresh maize.

This after a Nuer youth stole 4 pieces of fresh maize corn from a garden belonging to a Kuku family. He was then arrested and taken to his family members for punishment. While there, they agreed to harmonize the matter amicably the following day since it was already late. However, it quickly emerged that the suspect lost his phone to his captors.

Acting out of anger, on this allegation, the complainant in maize theft picked a stick and beat the suspect. This angered the Nuer side.

 They then avenged the incident by burning houses of the Kukus.

However, the Nuers were overpowered and driven out of their homes and some of their homes were burnt. This blew up into a serious fight between the Kuku and the Nuer groups.

As a result, two Nuer people died on the spot while one died Thursday morning.

By the time the police responded, the matter had escalated into loss of lives.

The dead are at Obongi Health Centre IV for postmortem as investigations and Patrols continue.

This news site understands that Thursday morning, the police and other district security committee members, officials from OPM, Implementing Partners, local and cultural leaders had a security meeting so as to end and prevent re-occurrence of the tribal fights.