At least 93 households from Torit West County, Eastern Equatoria State, have been displaced to Agoro Payam in Magwi County since late January 2022.

The head chief of Agoro Payam, Okeny Charles, revealed this to The City Review on Wednesday during an interview.

According to Mr Okeny, the IDPs are women, children and young men who are now sheltering in all the five bomas of Payam thanks to the hostile cattle keepers that have encroached the area.

He said they had informed the government of Magwi County about the influx of IDPs in the area, prompting the authorities to visit but they failed to disclose what assistance they would give them.

Okeny said the cattle keepers had burnt the houses and property of the displaced persons, killing residents in the process.

Ben Okeny, the coordinator for the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in Magwi County, said no assistance has been given to the IDPs since they arrived in Agoro on January 31, 2022.

“That was the first group who went to that place because of fear but others ran to different directions to the side of Torit because of the fear, and because Agoro is the nearest place, some decided to move to Agoro,” he said.

According to Mr Okeny, the head chief, the situation is getting worse as cattle herders have been pursuing the IDPs up to Agoro.

He said the herders were accusing IDPs of raiding their cattle before taking refuge at Agoro.

Okeny said the authorities in Magwi County have not delivered any humanitarian assistance to the area since they report an influx of IDPs.

“They are still moving in the village looking for people who came from Torit East County in all these Boma of Agoro,” he said.

He said they tried to persuade the cattle to leave the area but they have threatened to put.

“The people of Agoro are afraid of cattle keepers entering into the village seeking IDPs,” he said.

 “As I talk, around morning hours, in the afternoon and even at evening, groups of gunmen are moving and trying to ask who the Lokoya within the village are. So it is trying to scare people and others are now trying to take their children to the side of Magwi. So it made life in Agoro to be a bit hard,” Charles said.

The chief reiterated that the cattle herders were harassing the locals and he urged the government to intervene so that the community and IDPs can live in peace.

 “The situation is not easy. There is no food. These people were attacked. They did not even manage to pick up anything from their houses. So there is no food or even shelter,” he said.

Salvaging situation

“What we did as leaders from the community was to try to talk to our community, and then we got some houses. When you have two to three, then you give to the other family and the little the community has like the hosting household has a meal, then they will share with that one who came in. But their living condition is not easy,” Charles said.

 Last week, the Governor of Eastern Equatoria State, Louis Lobong Lojore, said the presence of cattle in some parts of the state, particularly in Magwi County, is endangering the returnees.

According to a report from the authorities in Magwi County, a large number of cattle have entered the territory of Eastern Equatoria State, mostly from the western side of the River Nile to the eastern side of the river.