Islamist extremists raided the Christian community of Yinh Pabol in South Sudan, killing at least 28 residents and torching 57 houses in early January, the Barnabas Fund reported this week.
Bishop Joseph Mamer Manot of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan (ECSS) said that the attack caused “massive displacement,” adding that “the humanitarian situation is alarming as food and other property have been burned down into ashes, leaving survivors with no shelters, no food and no safe drinking water.”
In its report, the Barnabas Fund said the attack is the latest example of violent assaults on South Sudanese Christians by Muslim Massiriya tribesmen from the Republic of Sudan, along the disputed border separating the two countries.
South Sudan’s Eye radio similarly reported that four separate violent incursions in South Sudan by armed Sudanese Massiriya tribesmen occurred in early January, leaving more than 20 people dead in Aweil East County.
A South Sudanese Catholic believer wearing a headdress depicting Jesus Christ sits during a mass held at the St Theresa Cathedral church Kator, in Juba, on March 3, 2019. (SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty)
On Tuesday of this week, the government of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, where the attack occurred, ordered all county commissioners in the state to mobilize assistance for the victims of the Yinh Pabol attack.
In an effort to stem further violence, the state government also suspended traffic this week on the Aweil-Mairem commercial corridor that links Sudan to South Sudan.
The state security adviser, Joseph Akook Aleu, said Monday that the state government decided to close the road to Sudan because of the ongoing attacks and killing of civilians.
“Yes, the commercial road is already suspended and there are no movements at the moment except on the Kiir Adem-Abu Matariq road,” Akook said.
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