Lobong tasks Magwi residents to decide cattle keepers’ fate
The governor of Eastern Equatoria State, Louis Lobong, has said the community in Magwi will have the final say on whether the herders should stay or leave the area.
He said this during his visit to the area last Sunday.
“We have scheduled a meeting between them and the community here to discuss whether the community should allow them to graze for this time or not. If the community says they should go, we will ask them to leave. If they agree with the community to graze for some time in a specific area; we have no objection as a government,” Lobong stressed.
Magwi County has been experiencing an influx of cattle keepers mainly from Bor, Jonglei, and Terekeka in Central Equatoria State since the beginning of this month.
The influx of the animals has created fear among members of the host communities, forcing others to return to camps due to fear of insecurity.
Governor Lobong last week visited the areas occupied by cattle keepers after a committee formed to investigate the presence of the animals in the area presented findings indicating that the presence of animals was a threat to the communities.
This prompted Lobong to schedule a meeting between the host community and cattle keepers to determine the latter’s stay in the area.
However, he did mention a fixed date for the meeting.
He urged the herders to behave well and not graze their animals on the farmland, school, and health premises as they waited for the meeting to be conducted.
“We have strongly told them how they should behave here in Eastern Equatoria. One, their cattle should not go near the settlements of the people. The cattle should not go to the field where people are cultivating and other places like the school, the health facilities, and they should not move with guns in the villages, these are the directives we have told them and they agreed to abide by them, ” said Lobong.
Abraham Kur, one of the cattle keepers in the Opari area of Pageri Payam, Magwi County, said he had come to the area in search of pasture and water for his animals.
Kur pledges to return to his ancestral land once the rainy season starts.
“As I have come to this area, if God brings rain, I will return to my land because what I need is water and grass for my cattle, nothing apart from these,” he said.
