Boma government accused of being behind massacre in Ethiopia

April 21, 2016 (ST, JUBA) – A senior army general in South Sudan’s government has accused Boma state government of being behind the recent massacre of over 200 ethnic Nuer citizens in Ethiopia when ethnic Murle militia group crossed the borders and attacked villages inside Ethiopia.

Greater Pibor Administrator and head of SSDM/A Cobra faction David Yauyau seen in Juba on May, 20, 2014 (AFP)

Lt. General David Yau Yau, also a member of the Murle ethnic group which carried out the brutal attack, revealed that the attackers are an organized group armed by the current governor of the Boma state, Baba Medan.

Yau Yau, a former administrator of the area, and former chairman of a Murle rebel force, the South Sudan Democratic Movement/Army (SSDM/A), in a statement he signed on Wednesday said he has credible information that the attack was carried out by his tribesmen organized the current South Sudan’s governor of the Murle area.

“The information we are gathering from the ground is that those who made attacks were people from Lekangole County, the current Governor’s home County,” said Lt. General David Yau Yau in a statement he released from Juba.

He named the areas from where the attacks were organized before crossing into Ethiopia last Friday, saying they were directly armed by the South Sudanese state governor.

“The people who made these deadly attacks undeniably come from the bomas of Lekuangole such [as] Nyergeny, Manythaka, Wungony, Toltol, Manyathind. The governor had supplied his own people with some weapons and ammunitions when he planned to force his way into Pibor town and the same weapons and ammunitions, which are now used against the Nuer civilians in Ethiopia,” he said.

He denied involvement of his SSDM/A Cobra Faction of another Murle group, saying his forces have been integrated into the South Sudanese army (SPLA) and do no longer operate separately.

“We urge the governor to be frank to the public that the attacks were made by his own community of Lekuangole…He must at best talk to the chiefs of his area to collect all the abducted children and cattle to be returned to the rightful owners rather than making unfounded accusations.”

Earlier, Boma state governor, Medan, also a Murle, said he suspected that the other ethnic Murle forces commanded by General Yau Yau could have been responsible for the deadly cross-border attacks.

Ethiopia said it has already crossed into South Sudan territories and launched the military offensive into the Murle areas to free over 100 abducted children.

They said they have identified the areas where the children are being kept and surrounded it.

Governor of Gambella region, Gatluak Tut Khot, under which jurisdiction the attacks took place, confirmed that the Ethiopian forces had entered into South Sudan for the operations.