One of the survivor in the last week attack at Lueth Mel Boma is calling on the government of Northern Bahr el Ghazal to improve security for people living along the border areas with Sudan’s Southern Kordofan region.
On 13 January,2023 a lonely gunman allegedly breached a defensive perimeter at the border and attacked officials at boma headquarters, killing two people and fled the scene. Among the victims were Santino Akech Angok, the boma administrator, and his deputy Peter Arol Kuan.
The two others – William Lual Nyang Lual (police officer) and Marko Monywiir Akoon Akoon were injured.
“We were just brushing our teeth outside our rooms when saw someone in military uniform walk over and started shooting at us,” Muonywiir, boma finance officer, told Akol Yam on Monday. He said he could not identify the attacker because he had covered his face with a piece of cloth.
Aweil East County borders Aweil North County and Aweil West County to the west, Aweil Center County to the south-west, and Aweil South County to the south. It also borders Warrap State (Gogrial West and Twic Counties) to the east, Abyei to the north-east, and Sudan to the north.
But the local authorities believed that a Misseriya tribesman from Sudan’s Kordofan State might have carried out the attack.
Monywiir, who was shot four times, appealed to the state authorities to beef up security at the border.
“I would like to ask our government to provide us with security so that such an incident won’t happen again,” he added.
Aweil East County Commissioner Kiir Yor said there are security forces in the area, only that gunmen still manage to enter the area due to “weakness on the security forces’ side”.
This wasn’t the first attack on the area. In January 2022, a group of armed men shot dead 13 people in the same payam.