South Sudan’s SPLA in Opposition forces of Dr Riek Machar on Saturday invaded and grabbed about 2,000 cattle from the farm of the country’s President Salva Kiir.
Yesterday’s battle in the Central Equatoria extended to Juba County and eventually reached Luri, 15 kilometers south of capital Juba where Kiir has a cattle farm and indeed his known biggest personal investment.
According to sources the SPLA in Government had not expected any clash near the farm and there was no reasonable deployment or a near reinforcement battalion, giving the likely prior organized opposition forces mileage in the attack.
The residents of the area thought Machar’s forces wanted to capture the farm as part of their threat of rolling to Juba but they ended up doing away with the president’s cattle.
“We expected a long battle between the two forces. Opposition forces shortly disappeared with a big herd of cattle,” a source in the area told ChimpReports on phone.
Looting of goods mainly food stuffs is always part of fighting in South Sudan to feed the combatants.
Fighting has been extensively going on in the greater Equatoria.
On Sunday Dr. Machar appointed Lt. Gen. John Jok Gai as the sector commander of the currently hot region.
“The Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of the SPLM/SPLA (IO), Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon, has appointed Lt. General John Jok Gai as Sector Commander for Central Equatoria,” a statement from Machar’s Spokesman James Gatdet Dak confirmed the appointment.