Authorities in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State has put condition that limits cattle trading between the counties and neighboring states. The government says traders will be allowed to buy cattle from within Aweil saying it help reduce cases of theft being reported in the area.
The minister of Local government in the state Hon. Kiir Chan Wol says livestock owners and local traders can bring cattle to Aweil town for auctioning to ensure other states’ traders will have access to buy livestock from the state capital.
He says police have confiscated four cows from suspected to be have been stolen from neighboring states. Chan argued his move would help curb the issue of cattle raiding and rampant cattle theft among pastoralists.
Chan says the government has restricted local people from selling their cattle at low prices without proper documentation.
“The reason we issue this local order is to prevent suspected thieves who follow business people that are trading on livestock when traders came from great Bahr el Ghazal and enter counties up to Payam to buy livestock at low prices”.
He says people steal livestock and sell them unknowingly without verifying who is the owner at the local level.
Some traders who spoke to Akol Yam 91 FM welcomed the move and urged the government to arrest anyone found to have stolen cattle and take them to court.
Last year, the ministry of animal resources fisheries released legal documents for moving livestock from one place to another.