CATTLE RAIDING#south sudan

Fresh cattle raids occurred on Thursday when a
group of pastoralists suspected to be from Lakes
state's Rumbek Central county of Lakes state
seized about 300 cows at Kabur William bridge in
neighbouring Cueibet county.
The youth, believed to be from the Ruop section
of Rumbek Central county, were armed with
AK47 firearms, according to community leaders
and eye witnesses at the scene.
Local resident Manguak Koc Manguak said the
youths and the stolen cattle were seen heading
towards Tiemkuac cattle camps, located within
Rumbek Central County territory.
He said Cueibet county pastoralists were virtually
powerless to stop the raids or recovering their
stolen cattle after handing over their weapons as
part of the South Sudanese government's
disarmament process.
"Our commissioner of Cueibet has collected all
firearms from us; we are very defenceless from
our opponent. We usually tell [the] government
to make a comprehensive disarmament [process]
but they are targeting some clans and counties
[while] leaving other counties with arms", Koc
said.
Rumbek Central county commissioner Abraham
Mayen Kuc confirmed that the raids had
occurred, saying state authority had launched a
joint force comprised of police and military units
in bid to recover the looted cows from Cueibet
county.
He said that while about 200 cows had since been
recovered, the true number of those still missing
remained unknown.
"We have recovered back about 200 cows and 6
cows are missing - the numbers of cows raided
are not clear but our forces are now on [the]
ground collection information about some cows
missing", Mayen said.
There were no reports of casualties or wounded
during the cattle raid attack.
This is not the first internal cattle raiding incident
to have occurred, with had been reported, Lakes
state remaining a hub for illegal rustling, as well
other neighbouring states.
Harsh security measure and reforms have been
imposed on Lakes state since January following
the appointment of military caretaker governor
Matur Chuot Dhuol.