Fire of Unknown Cause Guts Over 60 Households in Lou Ariik Area of Tonj North, South Sudan

Fire of Unknown Cause Burns Over 60 Households in Lou Ariik Area, Tonj, with Locals circulating Traditional Theories around the Incident.

By Ariik Atekdit, Tonj, South Sudan

Tuesday, 17 May 2022 (PW) — Several households, numbering from 35 to 60 got burnt in two villages adjacent to each other in Lou Ariik Area. From early March to May 2022 houses have been getting burnt by a mysterious fire triggered by an unknown cause. The wildfire swept out large parts of a poor locality of the rural settlements located in the central part of Lou Ariik Area. The villages affected by the fire include Wunlit Makuok and more recently Akuanydit.

Lou Ariik in Tonj North County of Warrap State is a territory of one single community with many clans and sections connected to each other in their cultures and settlements. They are bordered to the north by Unity State’s Mayom County, Apuk Padoc to the east, Awan Parek to the south, Konggor to the west and Gogrial East (Apuk Giir) to the northwest. 

According to eyewitnesses and the victims, their (Jieng) Dinka’s grass-thatched-houses catch fire from an undefined source, starting from the top neck of the huts, which first makes a low popping-gunshot-like-sound, after which the smoke clouds up in the air as the fire takes over the hut.

Eyewitnesses have reported that each house catches fire on its own, and most of the time, items rescued from the burning house can continue to catch fire afterwards, even when hidden in a tree. There is no report of animals or people being killed by this fire.

“The incident has defeated our understanding in the village. My household was the first to get burnt. I went for a visit and when I returned I got my home burnt down. So I called for a meeting involving all my neighbours, I wanted to blame them for this. While in the meeting someone called us out that the house we were in has caught fire. And from there day by day the whole village got affected,” Toc Koth said.

“One of our neighbours, after seeing that several houses were getting burnt, got worried and removed her items from the store and hid them in one of the big trees nearby, the house thinking that the fire will not burn them there. A few days later, when it was the turn of her house, four huts including the luak (byre)got burnt and the next day the items in the tree also caught by the same unknown fire it is a disaster indeed,” Toc lamented.

The fire mystery is unfathomable and nobody can independently and correctly tell the cause of the fire, including the local government representatives in the area. As the fire expanded and indiscriminately affected the community, theories got up around the incident relating to the cause of the fire. According to Jieng communities, such miracles are assumed to be directed by Nhialic (God). The Jieng tradition believes that God can bring disasters to families or communities when He is not happy to them.

The Jieng believe that any extraordinary event that goes against nature and defeats the understanding of daily life practices is a miracle and therefore could be a God-driven action. Since its occurrence, there has been no scientific investigation done to explain the reason behind the cause of the fire.

A large number of the local population came out on May 4^th, 2022 for a ceremony to adore Nhialic in hymns and prayers. Several women and men singing Dinka traditional songs of praise to God came out and remained under the hot sun for the whole day, opening up their hands in prayer, asking for forgiveness and blessings. 

“We have gathered here today to offer to Nhialic (God) our gifts. We know he is our creator and nobody is above Him. We believe that God must be unhappy with us and that is why we are persuading Him in prayers,” Mawien Kuol Monydhar, one of the Dinka traditional high priests said.  

Lou Ariik Dinka Community practices African traditional religions whose central theme is the worship of a high God through the totem, ancestral spirits, and a number of deities. The high god is called Nhialic and he is the source of sustenance. 

The local population still presumes that their ancestral spirits have power over them. They are thought to watch over the living, reward good behaviour with fortune, and punish wrongdoing with a calamity brought upon the individual, family, or whole group. Many of the gods and spirits are considered good-natured and capable of being appeased when angered by human behaviour.

And therefore, they voluntarily gathered to pray and give sacrifices to God as a way of persuading Him (God). The Jieng gifts to God are usually in form of animals and/or grains and the products of grains. These gifts most of the time are presented to God by a spiritual leader (benybith) who they believe to be the high priest.

Yet again the burning of houses had not stopped even when the communities have contributed over 30 bulls and slaughtered as sacrifices in a big and highly attended ceremony by spiritual leaders and the location population together.

In the first week of May 2022, the government delegation visited the affected villages and never return. The affected population now live under the trees in a dire situation without basic human needs including food, clean drinking water, shelter, and medicine.

“We live under trees. We are waiting for our death because we fear that this mysterious fire may turn into something different. My own house caught fire while I was at home, watching. I heard a cracking sound and I saw the smoke on the roof. There was nobody or a bird nearby, I can testify. This is unbelievable but it had happened,” Kuoldut Akoon explained.

“We want shelters, medicines and food. Where are our educated sons and daughters? They should come here to check on us and call upon the government to help the suffering population. Since the occurrence of this incident nobody has brought in any assistance,” Kuoldut added.

Kuoldut added that her own household and that of her son got burnt altogether but on different days altogether. 

When asked by the Boma administrator, Mr. Arkangelo Ariik Toby said, “We have reported this to Payam administration and to the county.” However, since then, nothing has materialized yet again the number of houses is increasing day by day. I am seeing that the magnitude of our vulnerability is growing faster, and the government needs to attend to this very quickly.”

Some people have suggested that what is burning the houses could be a question of environmental factors, suspecting that there could be underground gas causing the fire.

However, Toby said, “The grass and the trees on the ground are still green, our trees still have leaves.” If it were to be gas, why would the trees remain green? Why is it targeting the constructed huts? The gas would still hold the ground of the burnt houses hot, but now a few days after the fire is off, you can visit the scene and stand there with your bare feet. This is unexplainable. ”

As the rainy season starts, seasonal roads are going to close and the affected population will be difficult to reach anymore if no immediate assistance is delivered by now.

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