A/HRC/40/CRP.1 In 2017, the SPLA had officially closed the road between Ngoko and Wau, except for pre-approved United Nations and humanitarian convoys. As a result, people taking their produce to Wau to be sold or to buy things from Wau have to take their goods on their bicycles often through the bush. Witnesses told the Commission that when the SPLA finds these people, they often kill them.1361 One witness recounted that her husband was making this trip with others in early November 2018 and was killed by SPLA soldiers along with two others near the SPLA barracks in Abu Shaka, on the Wau-Raga road. The soldiers took her husband’s bicycle and the food he was carrying.1362 The Commission heard that over 300 hundred bicycles and the goods they were carrying had been stolen in this manner between June and September 2018.1363 The Commission has been informed further that none of the 18 schools in the Baggari area are presently functioning. It was estimated that approximately 10,850 children from Baggari have been left without access to schooling as a result, although a group of educated community members have reportedly been volunteering to provide classes. 1364 At the time of writing, the area remains tense and unstable. Despite being told by the SPLA in December that they would soon be drawing down from Mboro and returning to Wau,1365 the Commission received reports into late 2018 that the SPLA continued to increase its presence in Mboro, while the SPLA-IO continued to hold Ngisa, only 15 kilometres away.1366 As of December, SPLA were also based in Ngo Baggari and looting was reportedly ongoing in Ngo Vandego.1367 Additionally, the Commission received reports of SPLA-IO recruitment, including forced recruitment, of youth from Kuajena and Mapel areas, in the east of Western Bahr el Ghazal State.1368 3. Wadhalelo, 2017 - 2018 Wadhalelo is a village of approximately 6,500 predominantly Luo (Jur) inhabitants, located 38 kilometres to the southeast of Wau to the east of the Busseri river and to the west of the Jur river.1369 The conflict in Wadhalelo has somewhat different origins than the conflict in the Wau Triangle. Unlike the Fertit in the Wau triangle area, the Luo have traditionally had reasonably good relationships with the Dinka cattle herders despite being farming people.1370 However, this relationship soured starting in 2015 when Dinka cattle herders allowed their cattle to graze on the Luo farms before they had been harvested. This came to a head in January 2017 when Dinka cattle herders shot a Luo boy of 18 in Wadhalelo while he was sitting under a tree eating. 1371 Residents of Wadhalelo went to SPLA-IO to request assistance and protection and the SPLA-IO in turn set up a base in Wadhalelo in the primary school where they remained more or less consistently until June 2018 when the SPLA took control.1372 Witnesses’ views on the SPLA-IO’s presence in Wadhalelo were mixed. Some stated they felt safer with the SPLA-IO there and had a respectful relationship with the inhabitants while others stated the SPLA-IO occasionally looted and had been forcibly recruiting residents and as a result a number of the 1361 Witness 967, ERN 101914-101919, paras. 11, 12; Witness 970, ERN 101925-101929, paras. 6, 7. Witness 970, ERN 101925-101929, paras. 6, 7. 1363 Confidential Document, ERN D113948 - D113957. 1364 Confidential Meeting, Wau, 1 December 2018. 1365 Confidential Meeting, Wau, 2 December 2018. 1366 Confidential Meeting, Wau, 4 December 2018. 1367 Confidential Meeting, Wau, 1 December 2018. 1368 Confidential Meeting, Wau, 19 October 2018; Confidential Meeting, Wau, 4 December 2018. 1369 Confidential Document, ERN D113942-D113947. 1370 Witness 878, ERN 101587-101592, para. 20; Confidential Meeting, Wau, 4 December 2018. 1371 Witness 925, ERN 101886-101890, para. 6; Witness 915, ERN 101828-101835, para. 6; Witness 882, ERN 101577-101581, para. 6. 1372 Witness 925, ERN 101886-101890, paras. 6-8; Witness 915, ERN 101828-101835, para. 6; Witness 913, ERN 101799-101803, para. 6; Confidential Document, ERN D113892-D113900; Confidential Document, ERN D113942-D113947. 1362 168