At least eight people have been killed and seven wounded in fresh inter-communal clashes in South Sudan’s Lakes State, local officials have confirmed.
The fighting erupted between armed youth from the Ruruot and Panyar sections of the Gok community in Cueibet County and continued from Wednesday into Thursday.
Authorities say security forces have been deployed to the area to restore calm.
The violence is the latest in a series of revenge killings that have plagued the area, despite recent peace efforts.
William Koji Kirjok, the acting minister of information for Lakes State, told Radio Tamazuj on Friday that government forces, accompanied by the county’s acting commissioner, had intervened in the Citcok Payam area where the incident occurred.
“The issue between the Ruruot and Panyar has been there and it is related to revenge killing,” Kirjok said.
He confirmed the casualty figures, adding that the seven wounded were receiving treatment at Cueibet hospital, with some being transferred to Rumbek and Juba for further care.
He expressed disappointment at the resurgence of such violence, stating that revenge killings had largely been stopped over the past four years through community agreements.
“During the leadership of Lakes State under Governor Rin Tueny, the issue stopped… and even with youth leaders, [there were agreements] that they could not exercise the use of violence and revenge killing again,” he said.
Minister Kirjok acknowledged that while community leaders had previously intervened and enforced law and order, the groups “pretended to be calmed and again they raised the issue.”
However, a member of the national parliament, Manyot Magar, offered a contrasting account. The SPLM-IO official said the clashes on Thursday resulted in a higher death toll of 11 and claimed there had been “no government intervention to deter the recurring conflicts.”
He attributed the cause of the fighting to a dispute over a girl’s marriage last month and said the situation was worsened by severe flooding.
“The acting county commissioner is too weak to handle the situation and there are no enough forces to go there due to floodings which have occupied the area,” Magar said.
The clashes underscore the persistent security challenges in Lakes State, where localised conflicts over resources, cattle, and marriage often escalate into deadly violence.