Heavily Armed Nuer Youth Overrunning Murle Towns and Villages
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Nuer Youth Have Captured Lolkuangole And Are Advancing To Capture All Murleland
December 25, 2011 (SSNA) — The Nuer Youth of Lou and Jikany Nuer attacked Pibor County on December, 23rd and captured Lolkuangole town. Our forces are advancing towards other towns and Payams of Murle to end the root cause of Murle problem. Since the signing of CPA in 2005, Murle cattle raiders massacred more than 4,000 innocent Nuer civilians with impunity. Prior to the formation of the Government of South Sudan during the interim period, the Nuer used to protect themselves from Murle raiders without experiencing loses in humans and materials. The Nuer tragedy was brought about when the CPA was signed and the interim government of Southern Sudan began to disarm innocent Nuer civilians without providing them security. From 2005 up to 2011, Lou and Jikany Nuer lost over 35,000 cattle and 4800 people killed by the Murle.
Since the very government which disarmed the civilians in 2006 failed to protect the Nuer from Murle, the Nuer Youth have decided to protect their livelihood from Murle. To do so, we have decided to invade Murleland and wipe out the entire Murle tribe on the face of the earth as the only solution to guarantee long-term security of Nuer’s cattle. There is no other way to resolve Murle problem other than wiping them out through the barrel of the gun.
Since starting the operations against Murle, the SPLA army tried to protect them. However, our forces killed 80 SPLA soldiers on December, 24 and burned down one tank and three pickup Toyotas mounted with artilleries. The Nuer Youth will fight anyone who tries to protect Murle be it the SPLA or UN forces. Whenever Murle raid and massacre the Nuer, neither the UN nor the SPLA protect them. Now that the Nuer have decided to end Murle problem, the UN and the SPLA intervened to protect them. We the Nuer Youth have decided to fight the Murle, SPLA and the UN.
Our message to the United Nations’ forces in South Sudan is that they should leave the area if they don’t want to die. We have heavy weapons that can bring down helicopters and anybody standing on our way will be a casualty. The UN is hypocritical and useless organization which claims to have a mandate to protect civilians. But in the relation between the Nuer and Murle, the UN never protected the Nuer from Murle’s massacres in the past. What kind of UN is in South Sudan which claims to have the mandate of civilian protection by protecting one group of civilians while leaving the others to be massacred? If Nuer are civilians like Murle, then the UN should have protected them from Murle’s raiders long time ago. If UN cares much about Murle by ignoring other tribes in Jonglei, then, the UN forces will face the Nuer’s wrath this year. Whatever weapons the UN may have, they will not withstand the weapons of Nuer Youth which can liquidate UN tanks. If the UN forces want to protect Murle and themselves, they have to get F-16 Fighter Jets because the Nuer White army has stronger firepower than the UN forces. The UN forces in South Sudan do not have the same firepower like Nuer Youth and they are not a threat to Nuer at all. They will be annihilated in one battle.
The Nuer Youth White Army will continue operations on the daily basis until all Murle are finished so that they will not raid the Nuer anymore. We call on SPLA soldiers who do not want to die this year to stay out of our way. The Nuer White Army is well armed and no power can stop it.
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| A Sudanese boy rounds up cattle in a camp in Jonglei in 2009 (AFP/File, Peter Martell) |
JUBA — Thousands of young people in South Sudan are preparing to attack a rival tribe in what could become a major tragedy, the United Nations warned on Monday.
“I am deeply concerned to learn of reports of this imminent large scale attack on civilians in Jonglei state,” Hilde Johnson, who heads the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), said in a statement.
“The government must act now if we are to avert a major tragedy.”
UNMISS air patrols over the weekend identified thousands of armed Lou Nuer youths preparing to attack communities of the Murle tribe near Likuangole in Jonglei, the UN said.
On Sunday a group calling itself the Nuer Youth White Army issued a statement vowing to “wipe out the entire Murle tribe on the face of the earth as the only solution to guarantee long-term security of Nuer’s cattle.”
The group accuse the Murle of raiding Nuer cattle and killing members of their tribe since 2005, when a peace agreement ended two decades of civil war and led to South Sudan’s independence in July this year.
Neither the UN nor South Sudan’s former rebel army the SPLA have protected the Nuer, the group alleged.
“We the Nuer Youth have decided to fight the Murle, SPLA and the UN,” it said.
Johnson said the primary responsibility for protecting civilians lies with the government in Juba, but UNMISS has reinforced its peacekeepers in Jonglei while conducting continuous air patrols to deter potential violence.
Inter-communal violence has already affected “so many civilians,” UNMISS said, calling for reconciliation.
“Time is now running out and the government needs to redouble its efforts to prevent a tragedy and avert large-scale violence. All South Sudanese people must now put peace and stability in their new and independent country above any other concerns and interests”, Johnson said.
The UN had already raised an alarm in September over cattle raids that had left around 1,000 people dead since June, calling it a crisis that threatened to engulf the nation.
Johnson said at the time the raids involved “army-like” movements of people with new weapons and satellite phones.
“So this is not normal cattle rustling,” she said.
Army spokesman Philip Aguer alleged that the assailants were armed and supported by Sudan.
Khartoum has also accused South Sudan of supporting rebels within its territory.
Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.
UNMISS peacekeepers deployed in Jonglei State26 December 2011 –
Ms. Johnson stressed that the primary responsibility for protecting civilians lies with the Government and added that UNMISS has reinforced its peacekeepers in key areas of Jonglei and is conducting continuous patrols to deter potential violence.
“Time is now running out and the Government needs to redouble its efforts to prevent a tragedy and avert large-scale violence,” Ms. Johnson said. “All South Sudanese people must now put peace and stability in their new and independent country above any other concerns and interests.”
Over the past months UNMISS has consistently called for an end to ethnic violence in the region, and has deployed resources to prevent and mitigate conflict in the Lou Nuer, Murle and Dinka communities. The Mission has also facilitated a reconciliation process between various communities, particularly the inclusive peace process led by the Sudan Council of Churches.
UNMISS called on all communities in Jonglei State to put an end to the inter-communal violence and to actively and immediately engage in a reconciliatory peace process.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40841&Cr=South%20Sudan&Cr1=
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