Arrow Boys Clash With SPLA In Western Equatoria State

19 July 2010 - (Yambio) – A group of youth calling themselves, ''the Arrow Boys'' in western Equatoria state clashed with SPLA soldiers along Yambio-Maridi road last week on Thursday in a village called Ma-kpa-undu injuring three SPLA soldiers.

Three of the arrow boys were allegedly detained at the army barracks in Yambio.
The Arrow Boys leader in Western Equatoria state George Albert Taban spoke to SRS on Friday from Yambio.

[George Albert Taban]: “What happened was that, our boys heard gunshot at midnight but they did not see anybody around where the gunshot came from and then they went to see what was wrong in a place where the LRA appeared some times back. Afterwards, they met three SPLA soldiers riding on one motor bike going to Maridi. Our boys tried to stop them three times but they never stopped instead they were almost knocking one of our boys. When one of my boys wanted to shoot at the tire of the motorbike, he injured these soldiers on their legs and these boys were not aware that they were SPLA soldiers.”

Mr. Taban added that the three soldiers are receiving treatment at Yambio Civil hospital.

The Arrow Boys are a local group who mobilized themselves using crude weapons to protect the community from the LRA attacks in parts of Western Equatoria State.