Johannesburg (dpa) – The volatile South Sudanese town of Pibor was back under government control on Monday, after violent ethnic clashes over the weekend, a senior government minister told broadcaster al-Jazeera. The United Nations had sent hundreds of peacekeepers to the area in recent days, while 1,500 more government forces also poured in to Pibor, in Jonglei State, on Sunday. “Pibor town is under the full control of the government and there are no casualties at the present moment,” Barnaba Benjamin, South Sudan's minister of information, said in an interview on al-Jazeera. “The government has taken serious steps to protect the citizens in Jonglei state,” the minister added. The UN confirmed that the government was back in control, after thousands of heavily armed warriors from the Lou Nuer ethnic group had raided Pibor, the home of the rival Murle group. The dispute centers on cattle raids. Lou Nuer youth accuse the Murle of conducting murderous raids and kidnappings, and are seeking revenge. A group calling itself the Nuer Youth White Army issued a statement on December 26 vowing to “wipe out the entire Murle tribe … as the only solution to guarantee long-term security of Nuer cattle”. Residents said Pibor town was badly damaged in the raid, and they reported that civilians had died. Many residents have fled the town. “There is nothing left. Everything has been taken away and the whole Pibor town has been set on fire,” said Pibor county Commissioner Joshua Konyi, according to the Sudan Tribune daily. “The town is burning and a lot of people – most of them innocent children and women – are just lying before me dead,” Konyi added. Officials in the region are asking for humanitarian aid to avoid a crisis. The UN has estimated that the inter-ethnic violence has claimed more than 1,000 lives in recent months. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/6GGhm Tags: Pibor, South Sudan Section: Latest News, Sudan
