In a shocking and deadly assault in South Sudan’s Ruweng Administrative Area, local officials say at least 169 people have been killed after armed assailants stormed a remote county early on Sunday. The violence has sent shockwaves through the young nation and raised fresh fears that longstanding instability could spiral into even wider conflict.
According to James Monyluak Mijok, Information Minister for the Ruweng Administrative Area, dozens of armed youths believed to have come from neighbouring Unity State launched a brutal raid on Abiemnom County in the early hours of the morning. The attackers swept through villages setting homes and markets ablaze and engaging in hours of fighting with local defence forces before being pushed back.
Officials confirmed that among the dead were both civilians — including women, children and elderly residents — and soldiers defending the area. Health authorities said that the bodies of 169 victims were laid to rest in a mass grave as authorities struggled to cope with the scale of the carnage.
The toll also included the county’s Commissioner of Awarpiny, Paulino Wal Monychikat, and the Executive Director, Mawien Majith, whose deaths drew condemnation from government officials and community leaders. Authorities declared a period of mourning for the victims and vowed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the massacre.
Ruweng lies in the north of the country near the border with Unity and Upper Nile states, a region that has seen repeated outbreaks of violence tied to complex local rivalries and clashes between rival militia groups. While no armed group has formally claimed responsibility for the attack, the government has alleged links to forces drawn from neighbouring areas — a claim that some groups have denied.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan has reported that more than 1,000 civilians sought safety at UN bases in the aftermath of the attack, underscoring the vulnerability of non‑combatants amid rising insecurity. Humanitarian agencies expressed grave concern over the high civilian casualties and called on all parties to cease hostilities and seek dialogue.
The shooting comes amid a broader surge in violence in South Sudan, years after a 2018 peace agreement ended a long‑running civil war but left deep political and ethnic tensions unresolved. Analysts warn that renewed fighting threatens to undermine fragile gains and plunge the country back into widespread conflict.
