A/HRC/43/56 drivers of local conflicts will result in flawed solutions and continue to grow into one of the greatest challenges to long-term peace, stability and human security in South Sudan. 126 A. Jur River (Western Bahr el Ghazal) 14. Members of the Luo community from Western Bahr el Ghazal and cattle keepers from the Dinka community in Warrap told the Commission they had lived in peace for decades, even residing within the same communities and intermarrying. Over time, however, the relationship between the two groups fractured, escalating into violent clashes. In 2016, the Marial Bai Agreement was introduced to govern cattle migration and initially seemed to quell hostilities. However, interlocutors told the Commission that tension between these ethnic groups began to resurface after the introduction of administrative boundaries in January 2017 which engineered state borders with the intention of accumulating resources to benefit the Dinka community, furthering the ethnic divide.127 15. As early as November 2018, cattle keepers from the Dinka community in Tonj (Warrap) began migrating through the neighboring Jur River area of Wau (Western Bahr el Ghazal) in violation of the Marial Bai Agreement which specifies that migration is to commence each January, the start of the dry season. 128 Other key provisions of the agreement were also violated in that the cattle camp leaders failed to seek the written consent of local chiefs in Wau (Western Bahr el Ghazal) prior to their migration from Tonj (Warrap);129 cattle keepers were not supposed to travel with arms, but were to use sticks and spears to guide their cattle; and the cattle keepers did not compensate farmers for damaged crops.130 Further compounding the dispute was that the previous Marial Bai Agreement failed to take account of the on-going conflict in that SPLA-IO (RM) forces were stationed along the migration route. 131 Interlocutors also indicated that a greater number of cattle keepers participated in this year’s migration, increasing the level of damage to the Luo community’s crops leading up to the harvest. 132 16. Accounts differ as to how the violence began, with both communities blaming the other. However, after 6 March 2019, the attacks intensified when cattle keepers from the Dinka community in Tonj (Warrap) returned to Jur River in search of pastoral land but allegedly raped a girl while she was fetching water. 133 The pastoralists retaliated, reportedly killing a cattle keeper in Akou in Tonj (Warrap).134 Cattle keepers described as wearing blue jalabiya (tunics) proceeded to launch a brutal attack in Kuajena on 17 March 2019, killing nine people and wounding six others (five children and one woman), including a mother whose baby was only a few days old when she was killed. 135 As one witness told the 126 Wild, Hannah & Jok, Jok & Patel, Ronak. (2018). The militarization of cattle raiding in South Sudan: how a traditional practice became a tool for political violence. Journal of International Humanitarian Action; See also Saferworld (2017). Informal armies: community defence groups in South Sudan’s civil war; Idris, Iffat. (2018). Livestock and Conflict in South Sudan. K4D Helpdesk Report484. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies. 127 A/HRC/40/CRP.1; ERN 102707 - 102717, para. 9; ERN 102632 - 102652, para. 7-10. See also Wau Displacement Sites: Influx from Jur River March-June 2019, IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix, available at https://displacement.iom.int/system/tdf/reports/20190816%20IOM%20DTM%20Jur%20River%20dis placement%20to%20Wau%20thematic%20report_1.pdf?file=1&type=node&id=6443. 128 ERN 102675 - 102679, para.6; Confidential Meeting, 22 September 2019. 129 ERN 103249 - 103254. 130 ERN 103249 - 103254; ERN 102632 - 102652, para. 7-11; Confidential Meeting, 22 September 2019. 131 ERN 102632 - 102652, paras. 7-11; Confidential Meeting, 22 September 2019. 132 Confidential Meeting, 22 September 2019. 133 ERN 102632 -102652, para. 14; Confidential meeting, 9 July 2019. 134 Ibid. 135 ERN 103249 - 103254; ERN 102632 - 102652, paras. 15-21; ERN 102707 - 102717, para. 12; ERN 102671 - 102674, para. 5; ERN 102680 - 102688, paras. 7-10; ERN 103364 - 103370. 29