Local authorities indicated that the clashes also caused extensive material damage and involved members of the Kogi and Yari communities in Terekeka County.

Paulino Lukudu Obede, Vice Governor of Central Equatoria, stated that Kogi has been reduced to ashes and 27 bodies have been recovered.

The official added that the clashes have forced both communities to flee to safer areas.

Intercommunal conflicts in South Sudan are frequent due to differences between herders and farmers in the country’s most fertile areas, especially because of increased desertification and population displacement.

After a five-year civil war that devastated the economy, which caused almost 400,000 deaths, and unleashed a humanitarian crisis, the country still faces the challenge of reconciliation.

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