Chief Marino Pitia says the dispute emerged after youth in Kor-Wolyang confronted soldiers they accused of forcefully grabbing their already allotted plots.

According to Chief Pitia, Kasire area was demarcated in 2007.

But the soldiers who were allotted east of the Kor-Wolyang claimed ownership of some plots belonging to civilians west of the area.

This, Chief Pitia said, resulted in disagreement yesterday with the soldiers opening fire on the protesting civilians.

He said one civilian was injured after he was hit with a stick during the clash.

“These people have come with guns and threatening people. Yesterday, there were gunshots and a young man was injured. I do not know about the other side if they have causality or not,” Chief Pitia told Eye Radio.

“As I am speaking to you right now, the youth are very angry, they want to attack the soldiers, but I have been talking to them since yesterday not to get involved in fighting with the soldiers.

“I do not know what will happen because things are getting tense here,” the area Chief added.

Chief Pitia says he has raised the matter to state authorities, adding that from that day they met the governor, nothing has been done as the situation got worse.

“We have raised this issue with the Commissioner of Juba County, more especially, I Sultan Marino and two other chiefs, the Payam administrator and one Boma administrator, met the governor,” Chief Pitia said.

“From that day, we met the governor, nothing has been done about this issue. It’s even becoming worse.

“In two to three days, if the government does not get involved in this land issue in Kor-Wolyang, it will bring death to our people.”

Early, residents in the area complained, during Christmas Eve, armed land-grabbers have been terrorizing landowners at gunpoint in the area.

Speaking to Eye Radio this morning, a resident there who identified himself by a single name, Gurhas, confirmed the incident.

“There is a lot of issues affecting us here in Kor Wolyang ranging from land grabbing, civilians being beaten by soldiers, and gunshots everywhere,” said Gurhas.

“Yesterday, there was a gunshot during the daytime. We have not spent Christmas like the rest of the Country.

“We always raise our complaints to the government and nobody has come to our rescue. If this issue is not critically resolved, this will escalate one day, and the government won’t be in a position to resolve it.”

In his Christmas message to the public, the governor of Central Equatoria State stated that land grabbing has been one of the major challenges faced by the citizens of Central Equatoria.

There have been conflicts related to land grabbing and unlawful allotment of land in the capital Juba.

These include areas of Gumbo, Tokiman, Loggo East and West, Gorom, and Sombia, among others.

Nearly two weeks ago, the governor’s bodyguards clashed with informal settlers during an assessment tour in the Garbo area.

As result, three people including a soldier were reportedly killed during the confrontation, according to the police.