Coordinated cattle raids have left at least 72 people dead in South Sudan, with the attacks coming at a particularly fragile moment for the country as it prepares for its first election since gaining independence.
The killings are part of an ongoing cycle of revenge attacks that has continued to claim lives across the country. Each raid tends to trigger another, pulling more communities into the violence and making it harder for any lasting peace to take hold.
South Sudan is already carrying the weight of years of civil conflict, and the timing of these latest attacks raises serious questions about stability on the road to elections. Whether the country can hold a credible vote while violence of this scale continues is a question that will only grow louder in the weeks ahead.
Originally published by BBC Africa.