Budi County hunts down suspects who looted humanitarian aid

Budi County government condemned an act of robbery meted out on the humanitarian vehicle along  Budi Camp 15 road last week.

A vehicle belonging to Caritas Switzerland carrying humanitarian aid supplies to the local population was ambushed by unidentified robbers on July 2.

The authorities said they are in communication with the organization to identify the nature of the items robbed as the suspects remain at large.

Speaking to The City Review on the telephone from Budi County, Eastern Equatoria State, the area commissioner, Akileo Mboya Peter, said the vehicle had been operating for about one-week delivering supplies to the area.

“As they were going along Chukudum Camp 15 Road, that is where they fell into a group of unknown people who stopped them and looted their items but there were no human casualties,” he said.

Akileo said the law enforcers were still persuing the robbers to recover the looted items.

“According to the report from the ground, there were no items listed but the only information we got is that all their [items] have been looted but their nature is not yet identified,” he stated.

He called on the people of his country to desist from the act of armed robbery and allow humanitarian agencies to deliver services to the needy.

“I would like to tell our communities in all parts of Eastern Equatoria, especially in Budi County, where this [incident] happened, that they should desist from this armed road robbery.” The humanitarian agencies are doing a great job as they are bringing the services to the local population,”  Akileo stressed.

Also, a civil society activist in Eastern Equatoria State, Oryema Emmanuel, has condemned the act saying it would scare the humanitarian agencies from providing services to the local population in the state.

Oryema called on the county authorities to collaborate with the state government to bring the perpetrators to book.

“This is a barbaric act against the vehicles of the humanitarian agency that supports the lives of the people in the communities.”

This is the latest attack on a humanitarian vehicle in Budi County after a string of road attacks in 2021.

In May 2021, an aid worker was killed when assailants fired at a clearly marked humanitarian vehicle that was part of a team of international non-governmental organizations’ health workers travelling to a health facility.

The team was driving from Chukudum in Budi County to Kapoeta.