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ANOTHER SOUTH SUDANESE REFUGEE GRABS A GUN FROM A POLICE OFFICER IN PALORINYA SETTLEMENT

Photo credit: Palorinya Refugee Settlement

After attacking a police officer called Candia Mary Nopeace, Chol Aguek who is also called Deng Agai used her gun to kill a young teenage boy in a house where he expected to find his target, a Refugee Welfare Chairperson (RWC) who by then was not in the room. Being a serial perpetrator of GBV, the RWC performed his duty as a leader and reported him to the Protection partners which he was not okay with. This prompted him to find a weapon to use against the RWC. However, after several days of hiding, he was hunted by the police and army who could not find him but the civilians were able to locate him in a nearby trading centre. They then handed him over to the rightful authorities.


While performing her usual duties, 22nd/06/ 2024 did not go well for Candia Mary Nopeace. It was a sunny Saturday when she got attacked from behind by a suspect called Chol Col Deng, a South Sudanese Refugee, and Dinka by tribe. This happened while she was providing security at one of the Food Distribution Points in Palorinya Refugee Camp in Obongi District where the refugees get their food ration from.

The suspect has been a known perpetrator of Gender Based Violence (GBV) who was one time reported to the Protection partners by the Refugee Welfare Committee (RWC) chairperson. His wife being a victim of GBV had to be taken for safety by UNHCR and the Protection partners in the Settlement. He was left at home with children that he eventually hid and there whereabout was not found yet during the time of the crime.

This made him to get furious then wanted to avenge it by killing the RWC Chairperson who reported him. This prompted him to look for ways of illegally and forcefully acquiring a gun from one of the police officers whom he attacked, over powered and he then grabbed her gun and escaped with it. When the incidence happened, fellow refugees were rather chanting him for taking away that gun, little did they know it was going to be used against one of them.

After sunset, the suspect returned at night with the aim of killing the RWC. Luckily enough, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), United Nations High commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Protection partners in Palorinya Refugee Settlement had gotten to the bottom of the matter and found out the likely reasons the suspect could have for acquiring a gun. This then Prompted them to take away the RWC for safety.    

When the suspect returned that night, he went straight to a neighbour’s home and asked an identified woman that he found there where the RWC was, the woman replied that she does not know. He went to the next home and found five young boys sleeping in the same house and asked them the same question and one of them replied that they do not know. This built fury in him making him to shout at the boy and the boy shouted back at him. He then fired three bullets direct at the young boy taking his life instantly. This left the whole community and settlement in fear until his arrest that brought back happiness.

OPM immediately responded by deploying soldiers and police officers to hunt for the suspect the following day but it was in vain. However, he was later identified by civilians in a trading centre called Palorinya, who then handed him over to the police.

Samuel Mpimbaza Hashaka, RDC, Obongi urged the refugees and host communities to be security conscious because when the suspect grabbed the gun they were clapping and chanting him without knowing his intentions and yet later that night the same gun was used against one of them.

SP Dragudu Ignatius, the police spokesperson for North West Nile region, reported that the suspect was taken to court and was remanded to Silili Prison waiting to appear before the High court.

 

This incidence happened four years after a similar incidence happened in the same Refugee Settlement. 

It was again a Saturday morning, on 12th. Oct.2019 at 7:30am when a suspect only identified as Abubakari, a South Sudanese refugee allegedly grabbed a gun from yet again a female police officer who was guarding at the camp. The suspect behaved violently after grabbing the gun and shot at ASP Natukunda Ian injuring his chest after the OC responded to the incident with an attempt of disarming the suspect.

The suspect was also injured in the process of disarming him. Both were then rushed to Moyo Hospital for treatment after which the ASP was shortly airlifted to Kampala for further treatment.

The ASP Angucia Josephine, the PRO West/North West Nile reported that the suspect’s motive of grabbing the gun from the female officer was not clear.

 

Female police officers should always take caution in this particular settlement and in other places too because criminals always focus on disarming them more than their male counterparts.


 

Kampala Post Reporter (2019, October 14). South Sudanese refuge grabs gun, shoots police officer in obongi. https://kampalapost.com/content/south-sudanese-refugee-grabs-gun-shoots-police-officer-obongi

Samson, G. (2024, July 3). Security nabs refugee who grabbed gun from a police officer in obongi. https://www.radiopacis.org/en/news/-379

Wilfred, K (2019, October 12). Police actively investigating shooting in Moyo. https://www.upf.go.ug/police-actively-investigating-shooting-in-moyo/



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