According to security reports, the revenge attacks that happened between Sunday and Wednesday last week left at least three refugees from the clans of Boul and Fangak under the Nuer tribe dead.
Geoffrey Osborn Oceng, the Lamwo Resident District Commissioner, disclosed that four days ago, they received distressing calls from the suspects, claiming to be abductees, demanding ransoms.
One of the recovered bodies belonges to David Opoka, who was reported missing on Monday evening after being shot in the head by armed attackers while tending to his land in Lelabur village within the same sub-county. Opoka was accompanied by the slain LC1 chairperson during the attack.
According to James Okema, a local businessman, the four victims had left their homes on Sunday afternoon to tend to their garden in Lelabur Village when they were ambushed by the armed assailants.
The goal is to address and mitigate human rights abuses, conflicts, and challenges with essential social services along the border, which greatly affect refugees and host communities.
Jacky Acan, the LCV Councilor of Palabek Abera Sub County, revealed that armed men have been in the area for some time and their presence is causing fear among the locals.
Robert Opira Odit, the Councilor representing Madi Opei Town Council told URN that last week armed Sudanese rustlers attacked traders in the area, and shot and killed one before walking away with a herd of cattle.
Lamwo Resident District Commissioner Osborn Ochieng says that the four were arrested at different intervals following a fierce fire exchange between the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) on Saturday.
The suspects were arrested in a disputed area along the border of Uganda and South Sudan while harvesting bamboo stems from a forest in the areas presumed to be within Ber Lobo village in Lokung East Sub County, Lamwo district.
The Lotuku village LCI Chairperson says the rustlers attacked and brutally killed two herdsmen as they grazed the animals in Oryang village in Lawiyeoduny parish before grabbing some 208 head of cattle and fleeing towards South Sudan.
David Ongom Mudong, the Aswa River Region Police Spokesperson identified the deceased as Joseph Okello (48) and Denis Oroma (38), all residents of Oryang Cell in Lukee Ward Madi Opei Town Council.
Alfred Ocitti, 27, attached to Lamwo Battalion Bana Bana Barracks was reportedly shot dead at about 11 Am Friday morning in Lawiye oduny Parish in Madi-opei Sub-county.
The Nyimur Sub County LCIII Chairperson Moses Bili says the elephants believed to have strayed from Nimule National Park in Magwi County of Eastern Equatorial State in South Sudan reportedly entered Uganda through Amuru district before crossing river Aswa into Palabek Nyimur Sub County.
The civilian casualty has been identified as Peter Abac, a resident of Dogtangi village in Lawiye Oduny Parish who sustained fractures in the leg while the yet to be identified soldier from Lamwo Battalion's Bana Bana barracks was shot in the chest.
The area LC I chairperson, Ismael Ogak, says that the deceased suspect together with two others attempted to steal goats from the kraal of one of the residents on Saturday night prompting her to raise alarm.
The Lokung Sub County LC III Chairperson, Joachim Opoka Ocan, says heavily armed soldiers from the South Sudan Peoples Defense Force (SSPDF) stormed the road maintenance last week. The soldiers allegedly confronted the contractor accusing them and the Uganda government of crossing 7kilometers deep inside their territory.
Reports indicate that the gunmen believed to be coming from Owiny-Kibul and Ingiji in the Central Equatorial State of South Sudan have in the past weeks made separate incursions into Uganda and chased farmers from their gardens in the border areas of Nyimur in Lamwo district.
The Lamwo Resident District Commissioner James Nabinson Kidega says during the pursuit, the security had a brief gunfire exchange with the armed rustlers believed to be eight in number in the areas of Lolum and Ore-4 hills bordering Madi Opei on Tuesday morning.
The Ngomoromo LCI Chairperson Bosco Kidega says the bomb was discovered on Tuesday by parents and casual labourers who unearthed the devices as they were preparing the school garden to embark on the tree-planting campaign.
