South Sudan villagers killed after being lured from homes with promise of aid, witnesses say

Civilians Killed in Deceptive Attack in South Sudan’s Jonglei State

More than a dozen civilians were killed after fighters allied with South Sudan’s government lured them from their homes by falsely promising to register them for food aid, according to survivors of the attack.

The massacre occurred Saturday morning in Pankor village in Ayod County, located in the volatile Jonglei State approximately 250 miles north of Juba, the nation’s capital. Among the victims were women and children who had been deceived by the promise of humanitarian assistance.

Witnesses described how several dozen armed men arrived in pickup trucks and used loudspeakers to announce food aid registration. “They gathered them in a luak,” one survivor explained, referring to a traditional mud hut typically used to shelter cattle. “People were thinking they would get aid or some help.”

Once gathered, the fighters bound the hands of several men before opening fire on the assembled villagers. The two survivors, who spoke on condition of anonymity fearing retaliation, reported that 22 people were killed and several more wounded. However, the government-appointed county commissioner placed the death toll at 16.

Graphic photographs shared with the Associated Press by an opposition representative showed bodies of women and young men, some with their hands bound behind their backs, apparently shot at close range.

Makuach Muot, 34, who traveled to Pankor on Sunday to attend the funerals of eight relatives, said most villagers had previously fled the area due to fighting, leaving mainly elderly residents and young children behind.

James Chuol Jiek, the government-appointed commissioner of Ayod County, confirmed the attack and attributed it to the Agwelek militia, a force comprised of fighters from the Shilluk ethnic group. While the militia has not been fully integrated into the national army, it has played a significant role in recent military operations in the region.

According to Jiek, the assailants left their barracks overnight without their commander’s knowledge. He said the fighters told him the killings were retribution for 2022 attacks by a Nuer militia on Shilluk villages that resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties and abductions. The commissioner stated that several officers had been arrested and approximately 150 fighters from the involved battalion had been disarmed.

Jiek disputed claims that victims had been lured with promises of aid registration, calling it “an opposition lie.”

This attack follows a disturbing incident in January when Agwelek militia commander Lt. Gen. Johnson Olony was recorded instructing his forces to kill civilians during operations in Jonglei state, saying, “Spare no lives. When we arrive there, don’t spare an elderly, don’t spare a chicken, don’t spare a house or anything.” His comments prompted widespread condemnation from the United Nations and other international organizations. Olony has since apologized.

The humanitarian situation in Ayod County has deteriorated significantly due to armed clashes, aerial bombardments, and years of severe flooding. More than half the county’s population now faces severe food insecurity.

The region lies in northern Jonglei state, an opposition stronghold that has become a flashpoint in renewed fighting. The United Nations estimates that approximately 280,000 people have been displaced since December. Humanitarian organizations have warned that restrictions on access to opposition-held areas of the state are putting civilian lives at risk.

Northern Jonglei is predominantly inhabited by the Nuer ethnic group, the same ethnicity as suspended vice president and opposition leader Riek Machar. Opposition officials have repeatedly described the government’s actions in Nuer regions as “genocidal.” Reath Tang Muoch, a senior official in the SPLM-IO opposition group, characterized Olony’s earlier remarks as “an early indicator of genocidal intent.”

The incident highlights the continuing ethnic tensions and humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, which has struggled with conflict and instability since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011.