Fwd: Western Equatoria - protecting communities
John Ashworth
Thunder - Protecting communities and building peace", by Mareike
Schomerus and Kennedy Tumutegyereize (April 2009, Conciliation
Resources, London; 16 pages).
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2. Fighting back
UNMIS - http://www.unmis.org/english/FS09-10-Fighting%20back.htm
While hundreds of Southern Sudanese have been forced into the ranks of
the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) against their will, others are
joining self-defense units in Western Equatoria State to repulse
attacks launched by the infamous rebel group against their towns and
villages.
The units have sprung up in response to a decree issued by Western
Equatoria Governor Jemma Nunu Kumba earlier this year, urging
civilians to confront LRA insurgents who have targeted rural
communities in retaliation for a joint military offensive against the
rebels that began on 14 December 2008.
Popularly known as “arrow boys,” these young men get their nickname
from the bows, arrows and other traditional weapons they use to fend
off LRA marauders.
Their arsenal includes clubs treated with thick, black powder that is
supposedly poisonous. The use of such weapons dates back several
generations, according to Maridi County Commissioner Mathias Boyi
Onzi.
“We thought we could use our boys instead of the army to stop the
killing of our innocent people,” explained Onzi. “The arrow boys are
very effective because they can move at night and go to locations
where the soldiers can’t go.
The commissioner said that arrow boys have been deployed at 18
different locations inside Maridi County in groups of up to 35, adding
that they do not fall under the command of the Sudan People’s
Liberation Army.
It’s not just youngsters who are heeding the state governor’s call to
arms. Mboroko village elder Jima Gbandi has ordered his neighbors to
rise up against the ruthless foot soldiers of LRA leader Joseph Kony.
“Our people were attacked and killed like dogs, and a baby was taken
and thrown into a fire,” said Gbandi. “That is why I have organized
our youths and armed them with machetes, axes and knives to face the
LRA.”
Among their successes, arrow boys fought off rebels on 12 March in
Andari, killing three and scattering the rest, noted Charles Kifanda,
worldwide Chairperson of the Zande community. And state driver James
Ezadin attested that the vigilantes clashed with the LRA on 28 March
in Sangua village, Nzara county, killing four of them.
But although the self-defense units have driven off small groups of
rebels in some instances, the menace posed by the insurgents continues
to disrupt life in Southern Sudanese state.
Hundreds of Ibba County residents uprooted by LRA attacks now live in
the bush under mango trees with little or no access to clean water and
toilet facilities.
“Food is a problem,” says John Venasio Gala, the Southern Sudan Relief
and Rehabilitation Commission deputy secretary for Ibba County. “There
is too much suffering in Ibba due to displacement by the LRA.”
Over 1,300 internally displaced Sudanese have poured into the town of
Ibba since last February, nearly two-thirds of them coming from the
nearby payam (township) of Nambia, which is located five kilometers
away from the county seat.
One of the homeless is Zanjia John, a Nambia resident who witnessed
the abduction of seven children from neighboring houses during an LRA
raid on his village earlier this year.
“Our house was burned down,and we survive on cassava leaves,” said
Zanjia. While he wants more protection from security forces to ward
off future rebel forays, Zanjia is prepared to fight the LRA with the
traditional weaponry already in his possession.
“I have bows and arrows to protect myself and my family from the tong
tong,” he said.
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John Ashworth
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