Category: States

Unity State governor, Dr Joseph Manytuil has pardoned about 400 youth previously involved in the inter-communal conflict between Warrap State and Abyei Administrative Area after they returned home to Mayom County.

President Kiir ordered Nuer youth and a spiritual leader named Gai Machiek to leave Warrap State with immediate effect, on January 16, 2024, in a bid to resolve the Warrap-Abyei inter-communal conflict.

It was said the Nuer youth should either return to Unity State or relocated to areas in the Bahr el Ghazal region, other than Warrap State and Abyei Administrative Area.

Following the order, about 400 youth returned to Mayom County, according to local authorities, but Mr. Gai Machiek allegedly refused to go back to Unity State – citing security concerns.

Addressing a mass in Mayom on Sunday, Governor Manytuil called upon Bul youth to refrain from involving in the conflict between Twic and Ngok Dinka communities.

Bul is a sub-section of the Nuer tribe, whose ancestral land is Mayom County at the border with Warrap State and Ruweng Administrative Area.

“Governor Manytuil pardoned the armed youth involved in conflict between Abyei Administrative Area and Twic County for complying with the order of H.E the President,” reads a statement from the governor’s office.

The state government added that it is committed to facilitate the safe return of stranded IDPs in United Nations Interim Security Force (UNISFA) camps in the Abyei region.

The governor reportedly said the communities of Twic, Ngok, and Bul have co-existed “as brothers and sisters” for centuries and are deeply related by intermarriage and assimilation.

“Bul Youth in Twic County and Abyei Administrative area must come back home and shouldn’t escalate the conflict because peace in Abyei Administrative area and Twic County means peace and stability in Mayom County,” Manytuil said, according to his office.

The 400 armed youth previously displaced by the devastating floods between 2020 and 2022, came back to Mayom County and were received by Mayom County authorities.

But the government of Warrap said on January 29, 2024, that spiritual leader Gai Machiek, accused on several occasions of being involved in the escalating violence in the region, was ready to leave the state.

Machiek has been named multiple times, along with Twic and armed youth from Mayom County of Unity State, for his alleged involvement in attacks on Abyei, the latest of which were on 27th and 28th of January, and 2nd and 3rd of February, where about 80 people were killed.