Justice and Peace Commission in Yambio Condemns Killing By Police Officers

 

By Joseph Nashion

YAMBIO, 10 February 2015 [Gurtong] – James Rukenge on the 3rd of February 2015 shot his wife at her brother's home around 11pm   in Hai Bakindo and killed himself the following day.

According to neighbours, James and his wife had for the past 4 years often quarreled and fought, pushing his wife to move to her brothers’ place where she was killed.

In a statement by the Peace Commission, “Western Equatoria State has for a long time witnessed a lot of brutal killings in the hands of the Lord’s Resistance Army, LRA in the past years and another nasty war experiences of the 21 years civil war and now the current ongoing political strife violent during the SPLM political debate in Juba last December 2013.”

The Commission say that people are traumatized leading to such inhumane acts. They are calling upon the concerned institutions, the law enforcing institutions, human rights defenders, and religious institution traditional authorities to work in areas with people who are traumatized and offer counseling to avoid further escalations of such acts.

The catholic diocese released a statement that reads in part "we cannot afford to keep quiet and witness cycle of revenge killings and acts of suicides in our new nation that is already bleeding shameless bloods of shades of innocent lives across the nation."

There is clear evidence from different levels of society and members of various institutions that trauma is biting deep into the lives of the innocent civilians and this requires urgent attention.