A clash between two clans over a teenage pregnancy dispute left one person dead and six others wounded in a remote area of South Sudan’s Lakes State on Monday, a local official said.
The fighting broke out in Ayen village in Rumbek North county when the young girl’s family, from the Anien clan, met with the young man’s family, from the Pajok clan.
Moses Maker Magok, commissioner of Rumbek North county, told Radio Tamazuj that the girl’s family launched an attack during the meeting. One person from the girl’s clan was killed and six from the man’s clan were wounded.
Government security forces were sent to the scene and separated the two groups, according to Maker.
“The security forces are pursuing the attackers and very soon we are going to apprehend them,” Magok said. He urged residents to use the court system to resolve disputes instead of taking the law into their own hands.
A surgeon at Rumbek State Hospital, Terran Madit Terran, confirmed the facility received four patients with gunshot wounds to their limbs from the incident. He said three were men and one was a woman, all with leg wounds. They were stabilized but require further surgical treatment unavailable in Rumbek, he added.
Daniel Laat Kon, a civil society activist and coordinator of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), urged the state government to deploy more forces to protect civilians and for the communities to engage in dialogue to prevent further retaliation.
South Sudan has been struggling to recover from a five-year civil war that ended in 2018. Intercommunal violence over resources, livestock, and marital disputes remains common in most parts of the country, often fueled by the abundance of weapons and weak rule of law.