Kit Boma village in Lobonok Payam, Central Equatoria State, was once one of the battlefields with deafening sounds of the gun, blood bathe, and afflictions of what civil war promises and delivers.

But now, the village is one of the places that have initiated a dialogue with the army, which has been deployed in the area since 2016 after the outbreak of war in Juba between forces allied to President Salva Kiir’s and the First Vice President Dr Riek Machar.

The war, which began in December 2013 and continued in 2016, wreaked havoc on villages and drain civilians’ property, as well as displacing millions of people both within the country and in neighbouring countries.

Following the escalation of the war in 2016, government forces were deployed along the Juba-Nimule highway from Kit to Loa.

Villages such as Moli, Kerepi, Pageri, Arapi, and Loa— Kit’s neighbourhoods—were completely deserted by the communities because of violence.

Dominic Casiano, a youth leader in Kit, blamed the massive destruction and displacement of civilians on the army’s leadership, who, he said, failed to control their forces to protect the locals there.

Similar attacks on civilians by forces were launched in Kit when the army was first deployed in the area, according to Casiano, just a day after they arrived.

He claimed the soldiers began assaulting people randomly, looting property, and attempting to rape women, but that thanks to the army leadership’s cooperation; they were able to communicate with one another and not a single roof of a home was destroyed.

According to a report published by Human Rights Watch in 2016, both warring parties’ forces engaged in significant abuses of civilians. Especially during a big government attack in Unity State that began in mid-2015, killings, rape, damage and pillaging of civilian property were common.

Two of the women who were attacked by soldiers in Kit during their deployment in the area in 2016 shared their narrative of the attack and the strategy they used to break out of the trap the soldiers had put them in. 

Lucky escape

Betty Ochira, a mother of twins, was one of the women assaulted by the soldiers in Kit when they first arrived in the area.

Betty revealed that before the soldier who attacked her arrived at her house, they began beating a certain man on the road, and he (the soldier) then came to her house and that she was terrified to see a man with a gun storming her house at approximately 8 p.m.

“When he arrived, he found me sitting outside with my young son. He entered the house right away and found my twin children playing inside; he then told the children: “Today your mother will die,” the soldier said to Betty’s twin children.

He then went outside and walked up to where she was sitting with her young boy, ordered her to stand up and sit on the floor, as well as handed over her phone, food, money.

Betty said the soldier threatened to shoot her if she did not give him what he asked for at the time when she stated that she did not have what he requested.

“He then shot me in the waist, neck, and chest with the gun, and blood began to flow. He regarded me as [being tough].

Betty narrated that the soldier cocked the gun and was about to shoot her, but she dashed behind him and grabbed his hands and the gun, thrusting the gun with him. She yelled for help from the neighbours but they were also terrified since she and the soldier were continually pulling the trigger.

“I told the neighbours to hold on as we continued to pull the gun until we both threw ourselves down and I managed to take the gun and go.” “I then shouted to the neighbours that I had removed the gun [so that they] come and help me,” Betty explained.

The villagers arrived, and by the time the soldier was up and began charging at her, she had already handed the gun to the locals.

They arrested the soldier and, while they were hauling him to the barracks, they met his colleagues who had been ordered by their commander to arrest him after the area chief called the commander and the villagers handed him and his gun over to his colleagues.

Rose Wasuk is another woman who was pursued by a soldier from the market to her home after selling gold. She detailed how she managed to get herself out of the tough situation with the military.

“He came and told me I had come. Then I asked him if he had come for me or another woman, but he repeated, “I have come.” That’s all. I then stood up, and he slapped me, and I fell down. When I woke up, I found out [that] he had put his gun down and I immediately picked it up. I told him that if he came to fight me, I’d shoot him with six bullets,” Wasuk narrated.

Afraid to fire at him, the soldier knelt down but she could not take any chances. “I decided to take cover and run away since he is a man and if he caught me, he would harm me. But, fearing that I might shoot him, he fled as well,’’ as Wasuk stated.

Wasuk explained that she handed the gun over to the area chief since it belonged to the government and “we, as civilians, are not entitled to keep it.”  Wasuk described what had transpired to the chief, who decided that they should take the gun to the commander in charge of the men.

 “The commander then ordered five soldiers to go look for him and bring him to the barracks”.

“Indeed, the soldiers went and brought him, and they found us there in the barracks. He pleaded that I should forgive him because some people told him that we sold gold and he should follow us at home and rob the money.’’

Dominic Casiano, a youth leader said the cooperation and coordinated work with SSPDF division 7 commands who were posted in the area prevented the few residents of Kit Boma from fleeing the village.

“This is what kept us from fleeing since the commander of Division 7, who was in charge of the forces stationed here, was tough. He imposed strict rules on the forces,” he explained.

Restored relationship

Lisuk Christine, a widow and mother of seven who returned to Kit the same year after fleeing to Uganda in 2016, said life at the camp is difficult, but she was moved by the improved relationship between the army and those she left behind in Kit.

 “We found the people we left here are staying well and there is nothing bad. They would not have stayed if there was a problem but they are still here and I taught it is better I also come back and join them,” she said.

Lt. Col. Akuei Deng Akuei, the head of the SSPDF engineering unit stationed in Kit to oversee the Kit-Nyolo and Achui bridges on the Nimule-Juba highway, said that in his three years in the area, he has received no complaints about misbehaviour from either the people or soldiers.

 “They tell us we are their soldiers, as you have stayed here for three years. We didn’t see anything wrong with you, and I told them the door is open in case there is something my soldier has done to you, come to me. I have been here for three years and there is nothing bad I have seen with you,” Lt. Col. Akuei narrated.

Akuei said soldiers under his command listen to his advice and do not clash with civilians in Kit and has urged soldiers in other parts of the country who are not under his command to respect the communities in which they are stationed in order to maintain peaceful coexistence and respect for one another.

“I told them you have the uniforms because of the civilians. These are the citizens of South Sudan and you are the soldiers. A force that protects South Sudan and its citizens. This is what I told the soldiers so that they should respect the civilians, and it is these civilians that they protect,” said the head of the SSPDF engineering unit in Kit Boma.

“My message is that respect the civilians because they are South Sudanese. If they can listen to me, I would urge them to protect the civilians because they are our citizens and you must respect them,” Col. Akuei emphasised.

However, Silver Keri Fredricko, the Executive Chief of Kit Bamo, noted his community has been in dialogue with the army since 2016 without any assistance from the state or national governments, or even any intervention from a non-governmental body.

He said they still face harassment, arrest, torture, and detention from soldiers who are not stationed in the area but come in on patrols.

“If a member of my community is detained, I will ensure that I follow up on the matter until he is released, even if he is transferred to Juba. “You have to use diplomacy while dealing with the military and tackle the problem carefully,” Chief Keri stated in an interview.

Keri praised the army for its years of cooperation with the Kit Boma community, particularly during the 2016 war, which led to some community members remaining in the area.

“We gave the SSPDF engineering unit 10 hectares of land to farm because of our good relationship with them.” He praised the military, saying, “They helped us have peace since they are also farming, and cattle herders are afraid to graze their animals near our crops.”

In many cases, community peace initiatives coordinated by local community leaders and the community itself have proven beneficial in reducing conflict in several parts of South Sudan.

When President Salva Kiir issued an order for the army to forcefully disarm civilians in Warrap State in 2020, at least 70 people were killed and dozens more were injured following battles between the army and armed civilians.

However, under the leadership of current Governor Rin Tueny Mabor, who was appointed in a Presidential degree last year, the disarmament procedure he used in Lakes State was successful.

He explained that he adopted a bottom-up community approach, first sensitizing and informing the community about the exercise to avoid confrontation. When the community realized the initiative, Governor Rin stated, they were willingly surrendering their firearms to the government.