Mayom returns over 100 raided cattle to Warrap State
Cattle collected from Mayom county armed youth were handed over to Gogrial East County authorities on Thursday [Photo: Courtesy]
Authorities in Mayom County, Unity State, handed over 170 cattle to authorities in Gogrial East County, Warrap State, as part of the measures to promote between the neighboring communities.
Luka Chierey, Mayom County Commissioner, told The City Review on Friday that the cattle were retrieved from armed youth who recently raided cattle in Gogrial East County in March 2024.
“Yesterday I went to Ruath Nyibol to hand over some herds of cattle to Gogrial East County authorities. Criminals from Ajakuach have cooperation with Mayom criminals. The criminals from Mayom went to raid some cattle from Gogrial East on 16th March last month and they raided some cattle. They went again on March 27, they also raided cattle. So, I decided to collect these cattle three weeks ago and we collected 170 herds of cattle,” Chierey said.
He added, “Criminals from Mayom went to Warrap and brought cattle from Gogrial East. They want again to Warrap and also brought cattle in Twic area.”
Chierey stated that Mayom authorities used to collect cattle raided by the Mayom armed youth from other communities and return them to their rightful owners even before the 2013 crisis.
“This has been our habit as authorities of Mayom County to collect raided cattle to return them back to the rightful owners. I am not the first commissioner to do the cattle collecting process but it is something that has been done so many commissioners in previous years in Mayom,” he said.
“For instance, in January armed youth from Tonj South raided cattle in the Riah Payam in the border. And in the February, 2024, they also raided 155 cattle in the same area but they never brought back any single cow,” he stressed.
He revealed that this is not his first time handing up cattle, emphasising that he did so when he arrived in Mayom for the nearby Koch County, Unity State, in January 2024.
Chierey noted that the act of returning raided cattle by Mayom authorities has raised concerns among residents, but stressed that they are doing so to keep peace among the neighbouring communities ahead of December polls.
“The question that has been raised by the people is that why do people of Mayom hand over the cattle raided by armed youth? It is because we had so many peace conferences we held in Mankien and Kuacjok. And from those conferences we came up with some resolutions. And it is this resolutions that we are respecting and observing,” he explained.
He further appealed to Warrap State’s neighboring counties to return cattle if plundered by their armed youth.
“I am requesting my counterparts from Gogrial, Twic County and Tonj North to do same incase their armed youth raid cattle from Mayom. Because for them to do same will make us trust them. If we are to be the only ones collecting cattle from our armed youth, the armed youth could even hate us. Though our armed youth the ones often going to raid their cattle,” he stressed.
