A Member of Parliament has accused armed cattle herders returning to Terekeka of terrorising residents in Dolo Payam.

Oliver Mori Benjamin, who represents the Payam, claims that the Mundari cattle herders who were ejected from Juba by the governor of Central Equatoria State Emmanuel Adil have settled in Dolo and are causing chaos there.

“We have the cattle in Central Equatoria that gathered from Kajo-Keji, from Yei, and so on; they should go to their places of origin. They are now dumped in Dolo Payam in my village. They have not moved even to their areas of origin,” Mori said.

Mori said the armed herders are intimidating the residents and he is now calling for their disarmament to guarantee security to the people living in the area.

“They had guns which are mounted in mats or skins and put at the back of the cows while they are being escorted,” said Mori.

Allegations

“I think it is high time, those forces assigned to accompany these cattle herders to disarm…they removed their guns and went to the village to terrorise the people and deprive them of their minor agricultural produce,” Mori explained.

When contacted by The City Review, Gerald Francis the spokesperson of the High Ministerial Committee formed by the governor Adil to oversee the movement of the cattle said they did not receive any official complaints from the authorities in Dolo Payam.

However, Francis who serves as the State Minister of Peace Building said they had only received a complaint from the authorities in Mundri East County of Western Equatoria about the encroachment of the cattle keepers on their territory.

“All the cattle belonging to the Tali people are assembling in a place called Tapari in a border between Central Equatoria and the Western Equatoria states. So, all the cattle are there and the day before yesterday, they have started moving in the direction of Tali.  They are actually outside our territory,” Francis told the City Review in an exclusive interview.

He added: “Even we were also confronted by authorities of Mundri East county why we allow these cattle to cross the other side.

“They were asking for some guarantee from us that we have to be sure that these cattle will not go and spoil the farms of their people.”

He clarified that the cattle camp that remained in Dolo Payam were some of the cattle that sneaked out of the group that was escorted by the security forces.

He argued that the herders on transit have never caused any havoc to the communities along the way saying the majority of the cattle were under the direct control of the committee.

“We had one cattle camp when we were in Kuda when we asked them to move forward that cattle camp sneaked out from the group and went to the area controlled by the rebel in Moyosukun.”

He added that they left one cattle camp in Moyosukun purposely to avoid confrontation with the rebels in the area because they realised there would be some resistance if they go to the area.

“So that cattle camp is there [and] this is the only cattle camp that we do not have access to because of this nature. If we are to go there it will be felt like we are abrogating peace and we will also need some resistance that can result in to fight,” said Francis.

In August 2021, the sections of Tali and Kobura sections of the Mundari tribe brutally fought in Kongon-namondur, north of Juba forcing several families to flee to Mangala and Rombur, northwest of Juba.

Eight people died in the fight forcing Governor Adil to issue an order directing all cattle keepers to leave Juba within 72 hours.

The herders started moving out from Juba in August in compliance with the order of the governor.