Catholic bishops in South Sudan are urging the government to arrest and bring to justice the attackers who killed civilians on the eve of the historic visit of the Pope and two other top clerics.
At least 21 civilians were killed on Thursday in Kajo-Keji county in Central Equatoria state by suspected cattle herders from Jonglei state.
The following day, Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, and Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, embarked on an ecumenical peace pilgrimage to South Sudan.
The death toll from the Kajo-Keji incident has risen to 27, with “countless numbers” injured, according to the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (Unmiss).
Unmiss also stated that 2,000 people, including 30 unaccompanied minors, were forced to flee their homes.
Among those killed were four volunteers from the South Sudan Red Cross Society, who were stationed in the area conducting Ebola awareness work following the recent outbreak of deadly disease in neighbouring Uganda.
The Red Cross says its volunteers in Kajo-Keji were taken from their homes and “callously killed.”