Armed youth in show of weaponry. | Courtesy

A weekend’s peace rally in Gogrial East County of Warrap State reportedly turned into chaos after an unknown group of gunmen opened fire during the occasion.

State officials and national lawmakers led by Governor Manhiem Bol Malek were conducting a peace rally when random shootings dispersed the crowd on Saturday.

The mission was to amicably resolve the conflict that erupted earlier this month between the Apuk Giir section of Warrap and the Marial-bai community of Jur River County in Western Bahr El Ghazal State.

William Wol Mayom, the State’s Information Minister says the meeting turned into chaos when sudden gunfire erupted as a local youth representative was about to address the rally.

The media has it that, in the process of the commotion, one civilian was reportedly killed but the government Spokesperson expressed doubts that the government officials were the targets of the shooting.

The incident according to the Minister, prompted some youths to run into houses and came out with firearms including AK-47 rifles and machine guns, and started moving towards the direction of the delegation’s convoy.

The incident forced the officials and delegation to run into the vehicles to make inquiries about the attack before they arrived safely in Kuajok in the evening.

Mayom adds that the government has formed a fact-finding committee to ascertain the problem.