At least 185—mostly Lou Nuer [2] tribespeople—were killed in South Sudan's Jonglei state Aug. 2 when their fishing camps were attacked by Murle fighters. Eleven SPLA soldiers, who were guarding their camp, were among those killed. Thousands of others have been displaced in Jonglei following an attack on Mareng village by Murle tribesmen. There have been several such attacks since March, resulting in a food crisis as displacement has disrupted agriculture. The fighting has claimed several hundred lives this year—more than in Darfur, the UN says.
Local SPLA commanders blame the Khartoum government for fueling the violence. "There must be a force somewhere, a force that keeps arming these militias, a force that keeps sending ammunition to the militias," Maj. Gen. Kuol Deim Kuol told the BBC. "There is not another force in this way that can keep arming and sending ammunition to the local population apart from the Sudanese army and the [northern governing] National Congress Party." (BBC News [3], Catholic Information Service for Africa via AllAfrica [4], Aug. 4)
See our last post on Sudan [5].
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