The residents of Tombura County of Western Equatoria State for the first time since July have resumed their normal businesses after normalcy returned in the area.

The county has been through lengthy devastating inter-communal fights that led to the destruction of property and displacement of people in the area.

Residents who spoke to The City Review on the telephone from Tombura town on Thursday said the situation was calm and that some people have resumed their normal duties in the past two days.

They said the situation subsided following the arrival of the armed forces belonging to the Commandos Division of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) in Tombura to demilitarise the area on Friday last week.

 “The commandos (SSPDF) arrived about four days ago here,” revealed Abel Paul, a Tombura resident currently in a displaced camp. He added: “The situation has calmed. Yesterday (Wednesday) other people started opening their shops and the market is now working.”

Paul went on to say: “There are no gunshots since their arrival. They (SSPDF) ordered all the forces to remain in their respective places and said that anyone who will be seen carrying a gun should be shot dead [and this] makes the fighters stop fighting.”

Another resident, John Singba, revealed that some fighters were disarmed to calm the situation in the town. They now cling to the hope that the county will never revert to war again and the residents will rebuild their lives.

“The commandos have brought calm indeed, the security now is a bit okay. They have disarmed some of the fighters now that you cannot see people moving with guns as they used to do. This is what we want [and it] should continue,” Singba said. 

Renewed hope

“If this situation continues, it will be good and our only problem will be what to eat because we did not harvest a single crop this year. All our crops [were] spoiled in the garden and this is our biggest worry,” Singba said. 

The state minister of Information and Communication, William Adriano Baiki said efforts were underway to ensure all rival forces were relocated from the county to prevent the future eruption of violence again.

“Now the market in Tombura has started functioning and we want to make sure that there is no more fight in Tombura so that our people should not continue to suffer,” Adriano said.

Adriano said the first batch of the forces in Yambio will be expected to leave for the Maridi Training Centre this morning. 

Tombura County—once considered one of the most peaceful counties in the country— has been experiencing insecurity for the past six months with residents virtually displaced in dire need of aid assistance since May this year.

According to a UN report, the conflict displaced nearly 80, 000 people. An estimated 45, 000 of the displaced persons camped in Ezo County, Western Equatoria. Also, thousands of others fled to Yambio while many more were displaced to Western Bahr el Ghazal State, Wau, Nagero County, Moso, and Namatina Payam.

The UN report also indicated that some of Tombura County residents fled the war as far as to the Central Africa Republic with children reportedly separated from their parents.