Heads of cattle in Juba/ Photo @ courtesy.

Efforts are underway to evacuate cattle keepers from Magwi county of Eastern Equatoria state, an official has said.

The revelation comes after a meeting between the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deng Dau and the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Sara Beysolow Nyanti at the weekend.

For months now, authorities in Eastern Equatoria have been calling on the national government to move out the herders

They have also appealed to humanitarian actors for an emergency relief aid to over 5,000 Internally Displaced Persons in the area.

Following the Saturday’s meeting, David Buom, the Director of International Organizations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says work to evacuate the cattle keepers is in progress.

“The minister expressed the government’s commitment to ensure that the cattle keepers in Magwi county return to their original state,” Boun told reporters over the weekend in Juba.

“It’s the work of the police to make sure that peace is prevailing there in Magwi County. That is in the working progress all the cattle keepers will go back to Jonglie or Lakes state.”

In 2017, President Salva Kiir issued a decree ordering cattle keepers to move all their livestock out of the greater Equatoria region.

A committee was then set up to ensure that the animals were returned to their respective states.

However, the decree seems not to have been implemented due to unclear reasons.