A section of Juba-Lainya and Yei road. Photo: Curtesy

The Commissioners of Lainy and Juba counties in Central Equatoria State have resolved to hold joint security patrols after the killing of dozens of people including minors in separate attacks in Wonduruba and Ganji areas in 9th October.

On Sunday, the Commissioner of Juba County Emmanuel Tete and his Lainya counterpart Robert Lasu conducted a search for nine young boda-boda riders who were killed in Ganji Payam while traveling between Juba and Yei.

The county officials said they recovered four bodies of the deceased and are still searching for the remains of the other five.

According to the officials, the motorcycle riders were stopped along the way where they were dragged into the bush before being murdered.

Speaking from the crime scene, Juba Commissioner Tete urged local communities to promptly report security-related threats in the area.

“We will work on the security patrolling in this road, and for us to prevent this kind of chaos, I want to direct all the responsible people and even civilians who are using this road, when you see this kind of crime you have to report to the nearest or any military barracks,” he said.

“This bush is big, and we don’t know who is the criminal. We have been searching for the dead bodies, and we found those four are killed here, and others are still missing, and we will do our efforts to get them. I want to send a message that we all have to keep our security safe.”

On his part, the Commissioner of Lainya County Robert Lasu echoed the remarks, while adding that there is no ongoing security threats in Ganji Payam.

“We lost our boys who are raiding boda-boda who have arrested in the road and they have been killed here, they are 9 but the ones we found are four, we sat with the military leaders and we discovered that there’s insecurity threat in the area.”

In 11th October, Central Equatoria government revealed that 19 people were killed in different attacks in the state as it pledged to identify and bring to justice culprits behind the incidents including a “heinous massacre” of 10 boys in Wonduruba.

The state’s Acting Minister of Information and Communication Gerald Francis said, in a press statement, that the victims lost their lives in an “absurd act of violence and cowardice” targeting innocent civilians.

The state government said it is shocked by what it describes as horrific massacre of 10 youths in Wonduruba Administrative Payam, and nine others in Kulipapa of Ganji Payam of Juba County.

It said armed individuals kidnapped the juveniles from their homes at midnight, shot at some of them, while others were hacked with machetes in cold blood.

The Wonduruba attack occurred hours after fighting between rival factions of the National Salvation Front (NAS) in the outskirts of the area, and after the convoy of visiting Governor Jadalla headed for Yei.