South Sudan was hit with ethnic violence related to cattle for the second time in one month, leaving at least 46 people dead and 35 others missing after a raid between rival tribal groups. The battles over the weekend between ranchers in Warrap and those in the oil-wealthy state Unity, saw 34 people shot on the spot, local Sudanese media reported. At least 1,500 cattle were driven off from both groups. The information minister in Unity state, Mr Gideon Gatpan Thoar, said more bodies continue to be discovered as intermittent and localized clashes escalate. “We found more bodies on the ground as we continued searching for people,” Mr Gatpan said. “The epicenter of the raid was in the remote Mayiandit village next to the borders with Warrap state. More than half of the deceased are women and children,” he said. Cattle have enormous material and symbolic value in South Sudan, where bride prices are often paid in cows, and there have been increasingly frequent rustling raids in recent months, particularly between different ethnic groups. Last month Hilde Johnson, the head of UNMISS and the Secretary-General's Special Representative for South Sudan, urged all ethnic communities to exercise restraint. “This cycle of violence must stop,” she said. “That so many people have been killed or injured again in such wanton destruction is unacceptable.” South Sudan became independent from Sudan on July 9 after voters overwhelmingly approved the option in a referendum in January. BM
