The authorities of Lainya County in Central Equatoria State have ordered the cattle keepers to leave the area and go back to their places of origin before the rainy season begins.

The County Commissioner, Emmanuel Khemis, said that there was no way the local government could bridge the relationship between the cattle keepers and farming communities because President Salva Kiir and the governor had issued orders for them to take the cattle back to their places of origin.

Khemis told The City Review in a telephone interview that “cattle keepers must go back to their places [of origin] and the farming communities should continue to report them to the authorities in case [invade their] farms.”

“I want cattle keepers out of my county because I am also following the orders from the President and the Governor.

“Our communities are complaining a lot about the roaming of the cattle around,” he added.

He blamed some of the elites for being behind the cattle keepers and that they have never abided by the orders issued by President Salva Kiir

“Why are they keeping silent? If they are aware of the cattle roaming around the areas where farmers do their activities,” he said.

In October 2021, the farming community of Kamusa Kamusin village in Logwili boma, Lainya County, expressed concern about renewed cattle keepers’ threats.

The Youth Chairperson, Joseph Lokulenge, said the cattle keepers had set up a new cattle camp at Kamusa Kamusin and the cattle were being grazed on the farms and destroying crops in turn.

Lokulenge stressed that some groups of the women confiscated the cattle from their farms and handed them over to a police station, but “the cattle keepers came with the guns and forcefully took their cows.”

The area chief, Gabriel Daudi, said herders left the cows to graze on farms and threatened to shoot farm owners who complained.

This week, one of the farmers—who did not want to be identified for security reasons—told this newspaper that other groups of cattle keepers had returned to their area in Aruu-Junction and the nearby area along the Juba–Nimule road as farmers were busy preparing their gardens.

He appealed to the authorities to try to control the cattle keepers by talking to them and telling them not to cross with their cattle on the farmland.

In July 2017, President Salva Kiir issued a presidential decree ordering the cattle keepers to move out of the Equatoria region after the farming communities in the region were complaining about the cattle destroying their crops and property.

The battle between the farmers and cattle keepers has led to violent incidents in which many people are killed.

Some of the local leaders from cattle keeping communities earlier said that all the cattle keepers’ have agreed that the president’s order must be implemented and any cattle keepers who come must convey the same order to those who did not hear it.