By Bonifacio Taban Kuich

May 7, 2013 (BENTIU) – A policeman was injured and over 400 cattle sized when armed youth stormed Unity state’s Mayiandit County on Monday, an official said.

The incident, according to the county Commissioner, involved an estimated 200 armed youth suspected to be from neighbouring Warrap state.

“The raiders were armed and had to fight a combined force of the SPLA [South Sudan army] and the area Police. Unfortunately, one policemen was killed while trying to recover the stolen cattle,” said Gideon Gatpan Thoar.

March 20, 2013 (RUMBEK) - Three county commissioners from Warrap and Lakes state have agreed to share water resources without condition among their pastoralist communities.

The agreement was reached after Lakes state’s Rumbek North county’s Stephen Mathiang Deng and Cueibet county’s Isaac Mayom Malek met with Madhol Chol from Warrap state’s Tonj East county at the Mayom cattle camp on Saturday to discuss access to grazing land.

February 22, 2013 (BOR) - An outbreak of a livestock disease in Jonglei’s Twic East county is killing around 30 cows a day in one cattle camp, according to the area’s commissioner, Dau Akoi Jurkuch.

The fatal disease appeared in mid-January in Lith payam [district], in the north of Twic East on the border with Poktap payam of Duk county.

The director general of Jonglei state’s ministry of livestock and fisheries, Geu Wun-Thoony, says the disease has been identified as Hemorrhagic Sectmania (HT).

December 1, 2012 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s post-independence 2nd Governors’ Forum concluded its five-day deliberations on Friday with the leaders calling on the government to commit 10% of the overall annual budget to agriculture in order to achieve food security in the nation by 2014.

The country is still dependent on imports of food commodities from the neighbouring countries in order to feed its people.

By Toby Lanzer

By Bonifacio Taban Kuich

October 5, 2012 (BENTIU) - Living conditions for people displaced in both Mayiandit and Payinjiar Counties of Unity State are worsening as further flooding is destabilizes communities living in the area.

On Thursday the Unity State deputy governor Michael Chiengjiek Geay, South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission State Director and non-government organizations flew to the area for an assessment.

According to the authorities the situation is worsening with many people left vulnerable.

By Bonifacio Taban Kuich

September 28, 2012 (BENTIU) - 50,000 people are fleeing Mayiandit county of Unity state compeling a team of officials led by the state speaker to fly to the area on Friday.

The Unity state speaker Simon Maguek Gai told Sudan Tribune on Friday that more than 50,000 people are displaced by flooding in Mayiandit, contrary to reports in August and September of 30,000. He warned of the risk this is posing in terms of waterborne disease, as well as displacement of the population.

By Bonifacio Taban Kuich

August 21, 2012 (BENTIU) - A five-year-old child drowned in the Nyal area of Unity State’s Payinjiar County as heavy floods washed away around 100 villages over the last week, according to a local official.

Payinjiar County commissioner Peter Gai Joak said floodwater had destroyed over 2,000 homes just in Nyal Payam district, forcing many to abandon their homes after the main river broke its banks.

August 14, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The visiting Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), and the Sudanese foreign ministry officials on Monday discussed the implementation of the tripartite initiative in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, before flying to Juba in South Sudan.

Sudan and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (SPLM-N) signed earlier this month a deal to deliver humanitarian assistance to the civilians in the rebel held areas. The aid will be distributed from the Sudanese territory and monitored by African Union and Arab league observers.