12 April 2006 (Nairobi) – Six people have been killed in an armed confrontation that began on Monday between two sections of the Nuer ethnic group in Nasir.

A field coordinator of a local NGO, the Nasir Community Development Agency, Mr. Goy Hoa, told Sudan Radio Service in a telephone interview from Nasir yesterday that one of the dead was Ulang County Executive Director, Mr. Francis Wiw Geng.

Mr. Hoa said the initial fighting between the Jikany and Lou-Nuer communities started over pasture. But it later extended to Ulang town where, in an effort to protect civilians, the SPLA became involved. According to Mr. Hoa, the fighting started in the early hours of Monday.

[Goy Hoa]:  “According to the report we received from Ulang, the armed civilians of Lou-Nuer attacked Ulang at 3 o’clock at night and they were repulsed about 6 in the morning and then came back again and attacked Ulang. So that attack is still going on right now. Lou are now in one side of the town and the SPLA forces are on the other side of the town. There were six people confirmed dead, including a young lady who died on her way to Nasir clinic. Some of those killed are county officials including the deputy county commissioner.”

Mr. Hoa said that those wounded in the two-day fight are being treated in a clinic run by the NGO MSF-Holland in Nasir. He also said that many people from Ulang have been displaced as a result of the fighting.