Five fishermen were on Friday killed in Fiam Dangji in Maban County of Upper Nile State by elements belonging to the SPLA-IO, according to a local official.

The Executive Director of Maban County Moamen Khadr told Radio Tamazuj on Sunday that authorities rushed to the scene of the accident, retrieved three bodies, and took them to the local hospital.

“This incident happened on Friday at 4 pm in Dangji. Soldiers of SPLA-IO came to a village and found youth from the village fishing in the water. So the soldiers removed them from the water and put them down. The soldiers then asked them what force they belonged to and the youth said they do not belong to any force and that they are civilians. Then they shot them dead. It was a very bad thing,” Moamen said.

He added, “We transferred three of the bodies to the hospital. It was impossible to reach two bodies on the other side of the creek where the other dead were due to security concerns.”

The executive director said the killing of the innocent civilians created tension and fear but that normalcy was slowly returning to the area.

The chairman of the local peace committee in Maban County, Tira Marji, strongly condemned the incident, describing it as regrettable.

“What happened two days ago is very saddening. We have been talking about peace with the different groups here and when this kind of thing happens it is very disheartening. I am saddened by the SPLM-IO. A person who is for peace cannot do something like this. We are working for peaceful coexistence so that we see development,” Marji said.

He said the people of Maban should be patient as peace does not come in one day and that there are many challenges to achieving peace. 

Mansour Mustafa, a tribal leader in Maban County expressed his deep regret about the killing of the innocent youth aged between 18 and 19 years and said that three were still missing.

“These boys were removed from the water while fishing and shot in the head. The deceased are Jeremiah Yohana, Jaden Ida Goro, and Fitano Jume and two others are in the barracks of the SPLM-IO but people are afraid to go there because fighting can erupt,” Mustafa said.

He said the SPLA-IO commander in the Liang area should take responsibility for the killings because he failed to control his soldiers.

Radio Tamazuj tried to contact the SPLM-IO about the matter but failed to get a response.