By Obale Emmanuel-Torit
Authorities in Torit County of Eastern Equatoria State have recovered about 30 herds of cattle stolen sometimes back from Haforiere village and handed them over to the rightful owners on Monday.
Torit County Commissioner, Jacob Atari, told Radio Emmanuel in a telephone that over the past few times, the authorities have been in communication with the Hiyala community to bring back the cattle believed to be stolen by their members.
He says this is the second time he is carrying out the recovery of the stolen cattle since his appointment in 2021.
“There were 30 herds of cattle stolen from Haforiere and the footmarks that followed entered Hiyala. For all this time we have been communicating with Monyomiji of Hiyala so that they return peacefully, but they have failed to return the stolen cows. In fact this is the second operation I have done since my appointment”, Atari notes.
The commissioner says the understanding among different villages under Torit County has made it easy to carry on with the retrieving process following the commitment letter that was signed by the different villages last year.
“Last year, on July 25th there was a commitment letter signed by all these villages of Torit County, especially Hiyala Payam that any stolen cow should be returned to the owner. If the village fails to return the cattle then the whole will be accountable. But if the criminals are identified and their kraal is identified immediately the government will go only and stick to that criminal Kraal and that cattle stolen will be recovered from the criminal kraal”, he explained.
Atari is optimistic that there is commitment shown by the different signatories to the letter since there is penalty applied to the offenders.
“After they signed this letter, the whole village is now committed, if anything is stolen and the footmarks entered in their place, the chief around and the Monyomiji in order to avoid further problems that will engulf the whole village, they will identify the criminals and their place where they are. Then this is now the procedure we use also that now ok if the criminals are identified, we leave the whole village not to be accountable, but we shall now follow the criminals and this is how we recovered the cow”, he says.
The commissioner is urging the community of Torit County to avoid the cattle raiding and stealing and they should embrace peace among themselves.
“The people of Torit County just stopped the cattle raiding and even got stealing, it is just no meaning. I want them to stay in peace so that this coming cultivation as we are yearning to overthrow the hunger. I need everybody to cultivate without fear and I need everybody to have the liberty of freedom”, Atari stresses.
Clip 4 Cattle
The commissioner made the remarks on Radio Emmanuel on Monday in a telephone interview.