Night Assault in Bor Rocks Business Community
A sudden midnight raid in Bor’s Pan-liet neighbourhood jolted residents on Tuesday, leaving traders from Northern Bahr El Ghazal scrambling for safety as armed youths forced entry into their rented compounds.
The assailants, wielding pangas and machetes, reportedly beat occupants before disappearing into the darkness with cash and goods worth more than 34 million South Sudanese Pounds and 7,000 US dollars.
Casualties and Looted Millions
Hospital officials confirmed eleven injuries; five victims remain in critical condition at Bor State Hospital’s trauma ward, heightening public concern over urban security.
John Deng Madit, head of the Bahr El Ghazal business community, fears the violence carries xenophobic overtones, saying ‘this kind of attack specifically targets us and threatens commerce’.
Authorities Probe Motives
A state official acknowledged an investigation is underway but admitted no arrests yet. He linked the assault to soaring youth unemployment that has fueled sporadic criminal flare-ups in Jonglei.
Local police have stepped up night patrols while the victims have been temporarily relocated to the governor’s compound, a measure authorities call ‘purely precautionary’.
Community Appeals for Justice
Acting Youth Union chairman Deng Peter Natali condemned ‘a disturbing pattern of mistreatment’ against Northern Bahr El Ghazal citizens, urging swift arrests and judicial follow-up to deter copycat violence.
Civil society monitors warn that unchecked ethnic profiling could erode fragile inter-state cohesion carefully nurtured since the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.
Paths Toward Safer Markets
Analysts propose job-creation schemes, community policing, and cross-cultural dialogue to address both immediate security gaps and deeper economic frustrations driving youth militancy.
For Bor’s traders, however, the priority remains clear: ‘We just want to work in peace and rebuild what was lost,’ Madit reflected outside the governor’s office compound.